


Yuma and Memories

by WanderingFanfics



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Character Development, Character Study, Everyone Else is the Same as Original, Family Drama, Feelings, Friendship, Gen, Memories, Multi, She/Her Pronouns for Yuma, Teenage Drama, They/Them Pronouns for Astral, Universe Alteration, and sometimes...card games are mentioned, who's ready to go back to genderswapped fics of the early 2010s WOO
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:47:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 54,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24532537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WanderingFanfics/pseuds/WanderingFanfics
Summary: Yuma is known for going over the top and trying to achieve impossible heights, despite only ever slamming her head against the wall in the process.  That's who she is.  Yuma the loser.  Never taking things slow and steady, running at the speed of light only to pass out before the finish line.  That's what makes Yuma, Yuma.  And she was perfectly content staying that way.Then all of the sudden there's an incorporeal being telling her how much she sucks at card games and following her all the time.  Not only that but now instead of trying too hard and failing dramatically...she actually has to seriously win, otherwise she'll lose more than she bargained for and leave with more than a bump to the head.  So she'll just have to listen to her new friend back-seat driving all her card games...for now.  At least until they get their memories back.(Currently on Hiatus)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 20





	1. What You're Willing to Lose

"Whoever opens this door shall obtain great power, but in exchange they will lose what they love most. Are you willing?"

The door calls out to her again. Sometimes it changes the words, but the meaning is always the same. Are you willing to lose the thing most precious to you in exchange for great power? Yuma staggers back. Sometimes she changes the way she responds, but her reply is always the same. She's not willing. And as always the ground beneath her falters, as if the world is dissapointed in her reply. Finally the ground disappears entirely, and she's falling down...

down...

down...

down...

down to the attic floor. She sits up and starts smacking the side of her head, as if to shake out that reoccurring nightmare. "Why why why why whyyyyyyyyy...uuuuuuuugh stupid dream." She shakes her head violently, which only made the headache worse. She hears the old clock ring. The time was 7 am. In other words, late for her to do her morning routine.

"Fff-WHY!?" She shoots off the ground and slides down the ladder to grab her uniform. _Pants, shirt, tie, hairbands, key, all clear!_ After assuring she has everything she needs she flies down the stairs. She hesitates at seeing her sister, Akari, who's busy talking to her co-workers about a news delivery. Yuma doesn't want to disturb her, but she's also mad that Akari didn't wake her, so she just sticks out her tongue and quietly goes "bleggggh" as she grabs her school bag and runs out the front door. 

"I saw that," Akari calls after her.

"Bye grandma!" Yuma pretends not to hear her as she plants a kiss on Grandma's cheek.

"Yuma, did you have breakfast?" Grandma smiles and pats Yuma's forehead. "You fell off the hammock again, didn't you? Silly girl. You have time to eat breakfast, its on the table-"

"I can eat at school!" Realizing the smooch failed to distract her observant grandma she tries to make her retreat. Haru uses the broom she was using to sweep the front steps to grab Yuma by the collar.

"Yuma."

"...Y-eah grandma?"

"Wash your face. Take your pills. Eat. Your. Breakfast." Haru retains her sweet smile, but the glint her eyes is not to be trifled with.

"...Yes ma'am." Defeated, Yuma retreats back inside.

Face washed, pills taken, riceball placed in mouth, Yuma once again rushes out of the house. As she runs she hears Tetsuo's skateboard behind her. Another race begins!

* * *

 _Well, my goal of reaching the railway before the train is foiled again. Bet I could have done it today if not for that dream._ Yuma muses as she sits at her desk in a huff. _Is my morning goal what I love most mister dream? Is that why you take it away from me? Where's my great power then huh!?_ She sighs. _No I cant just blame something else. I can take the loss. I can take a million losses. I'll-!_

"Morning Yuma."

"WAH!!" Yuma jumps off her chair and stands on her desk. When she sees who was calling her she just as quickly plops back down to her seat. "Morning Kotori! I saw you passing by on the train today." She grins. "I was trying to go under the rails before your train crosses it, but then Tetsuo challenged me to a race-"

"Which he does every morning," Kotori replied, having heard this story many times. 

"Right. So he challenged me and I can't just say no, so we started racing, but _then_ -"

"He pulled a dirty trick on you."

"He pulled a dirty trick on me! So I trip and I dropped my deck and those cleaner robots were around and you know what they said?"

"...They said your deck was garbage?"

"THEY SAID MY DECK WAS GARBAGE!!! Unbelievable! I didn't think robots could be programmed to be so MEAN!"

"Yuma! Could you tone it down? The professor's arriving soon," one of the students that Yuma can't remember the name of called her out.

"Yeah Yuma. The robot was only telling the truth. Throw them out and get new ones." The other students started chiming in.

"Yeah but then Yuma might actually win a game for once. Then the world would end." 

"Nah, I'm sure even with a good deck Yuma would lose. The world just wouldn't be in balance if she won."

"Haha, that's true. Yuma would probably have to sacrifice her soul in order to break her losing streak."

"Nah I bet whoever got her soul would inherit the losing streak. Nothing in life is free!"

"Grrr..." _Bullies. Bullies the lot of you. You'll see! I'll win one of these days._ Usually she doesn't mind the other students taunting her, because at the end of the day she doesn't care what they think, but today she was already annoyed. 

"Don't let it get to you," Kotori sighed. She can't say they're wrong, but she's not going to tell Yuma that. 

"...Yeah. Sorry." Yuma un-clinches her hands. "Anyway how was your morning?"

"Uneventful."

"Oh."

"...Your tie is a little crooked."

"It is?" Grandma retied it before she left, but maybe it got messed up again during her run-in with the robots.

"Here." Kotori reaches out and un-fastens the tie and reties it for Yuma. "I know you like the pants, but why not wear the shirt part of the girls uniform at least? Its easier to put on."

Yuma look into Kotori's pretty eyes as she ties it and smiles. "I like the sleeves. And I think the tie is cool."

"...Yeah. It is cool." Kotori gently places the tie across Yuma's chest once she finishes tying it and sits down next to her.

Both of them felt like they had this conversation before, but neither of them minded.

* * *

The next few classes went as it usually does. Yuma tries and fails stunts she's challenged to do by other students. Yuma at one point gets taken to the nurse and scolded profusely for "abusing her own body for the sake of teen peer pressure," which Yuma promptly ignores. Yuma eats her lunch way too fast and almost swallows her fork. Yuma tries really hard to listen to the professors' lectures only to have all the lessons deflect off of her. Yuma tries to do an assignment in-between classes only to smack her head into the desk in frustration.

"Whhhyyyyy is it so hard to do maaaaaath," Yuma whines.

"Finally she says something that makes sense," one of the students responds.

"Oh hush! The only reason why you don't understand math is that you don't want to learn! Try harder," another students scolds them. That so-called honor student is always making those kinds of comments.

"Easy for you to say. I always try hard!" Yuma lifts up her head, taking a stand against this injustice. 

The honor student just gives her a look that says "Yeah, but you're still hopeless," and goes back to reading his book. Yuma smacks her head against her desk again.

"Yuma smacking your head against your desk won't help you finish your assignments. Do you want to go to the nurse today _again_?" Kotori puts down her touch pen and pats Yuma on the shoulder.

"...No." Yuma lifts up her head to reveal a red mark on her forehead. "Kotori how are you so good at school stuff?"

"I study."

"Well I do too! I study as hard as anyone else! Why do my grade still suck?"

"...Yuma I don't know how to put this but ugh...it looks like you put up a barrier in class."

"A barrier?"

"Yeah." Kotori moves her hands in a circular motion around Yuma as if to shape the barrier. "Whenever the professor talks, you tense up and sit rigid, like you're going to deflect a hit from someone."

"Well, whenever the professor talks I have to go 'I won't lose! I'm going to learn so hard! Hyah!' and then look at the professor in the eyes real hard to show that I'm listening."

"And do you listen? Do you even remember what our professor discussed in class today?"

"Hmmmm...HMMMMMM...no."

"Don't smack your head against the desk again."

"I wasn't going to!"

"Yuma...maybe you need to have a tutor to help you study. Or like, special classes?"

Yuma's shaking her head before Kotori could finish her sentence. "No way! That's cheating!"

"Yuma it's not-"

"If I don't succeed on my own terms there's no point in winning! I'll just keep trying as hard as I can and I'll eventually succeed!" Yuma completely forgot the dejection she felt. "Just you wait Kotori! I'll keep going and going and soon I'll be the best in the world!"

Kotori sighs. "Alright. I'll watch...by the way where's your necklace?"

"Huh!?" Yuma started rapidly patting around her neck before she felt the string, pulling the key attached to it out from under her shirt. "There it is! No wonder I felt grumpy today. I had you hidden away!" She holds the key with both hands and closes her eyes.

"I don't think I've ever seen you without that necklace on Yuma. Even while swimming," Yuma mutters. 

"Of course! I always have to keep it on me...And its not a necklace! It's a key." Yuma runs her fingers across the edges of the key. Suddenly she raises her head from the key and looks at Kotori hesitantly. "Um, did I ever tell you why I have this?"

Kotori thinks for a second...before shaking her head. "No, why do you have it?"

Yuma leans back. Suddenly all her energy drained away. "Mom and Dad gave it to me before they disappeared."

Kotori frowns. "I see...so its like a memento?"

"...Yeah. Something like that." She hugs the key to her chest. "I don't know why, but its like, this key is a lifeline for me, and it'll unlock something..."

"What do you think it'll unlock?"

Yuma laughs. "Probably nothing."

* * *

With classes finally over, the best part of the day for Yuma arrives. _Duel time duel time DUEL TIME DUEL TIME-_

"Yuma slow down!"

"C'mon Kotori I gotta find someone to duel me!"

At the center of the school is a duel park, where tons of students go to duel right after classes, making it a prime spot to seek out duels for Yuma. That is, if anyone is willing to duel with her. Usually they only do it when they have no one else to duel with or they're having a bad day and know they'll always win if they fight Yuma. Yuma's not picky though. If worse comes to worse Tetsuo's always willing to duel her.

"You know Yuma, you could use this time to study if you want to-"

"D-GAZER SET!!!" Yuma dramatically attaches the gazer to her ear and turns it on. Kotori sighs and sets up her gazer as well.

As long as she can remember, dueling has been a fascination for her. Seeing cards turns into monster that are so lifelike, ones that she could fight against head-on with her own set of monsters, still astounds her. There's no bigger thrill to her than dueling. "Kotori...one day I'm going to be a Word Champion of Dueling. I just know it!"

Kotori smiles. She's never been into dueling like a lot of her classmates, but even she knows how bad Yuma is at the game. Still, Yuma's passion and tenacity is contagious, and she can't help but encourage her. "I believe in you!" 

They begin walking through the duelers already in battle as their monsters seemingly tears apart all the architecture around them, causing virtual rubble to fall. After twenty minutes Yuma still hasn't found an opponent, but just seeing other duelists at play keeps her blood pumping. She'll find an opponent soon, she's sure of it!

"Yuma look!" Kotori points to one of the elevated platforms. Tetsuo was dueling with a boy with purple hair and an unpleasant smirk. 

"Who...?" Yuma's question fell back into her mouth when she saw the boy do an ZXY Summon. "That's so cool!"

"Yuma but that's-! Wait, why is that cool?" Kotori was between being concerned for Tetsuo for fighting the notorious bully of the school and Yuma who doesn't seem to care.

"It's a special summon." As the summon formed Yuma felt her pulse racing. "Ooooh I want one soooo bad! They're so cool!"

"...That didn't answer my question but I'll take your word for it. Anyway Yuma that's Shark!"

"Shark?" Yuma crosses her arms. "Shark...Shark...is he famous?"

"Yuma wha-" Before Kotori could ask how she doesn't know who Shark is the siren that indicated the end of the match rings. Tetsuo lost, with Shark still comfortable at full health. The virtual destruction made by their monsters clears away, and Kotori takes off her gazer. "Never mind lets just comfort Tetsuo."

"Since when did Tetsuo need comforting?" Yuma takes off her gazer to follow Kotori up the stairs. She didn't understand what the deal is until she saw the boy, Shark, pick up Tetsuo's entire deck from his duel disk as he lies on the ground, and walks away with it. "HEY!" 

Shark pauses mid-gait and turns around, looking at her as if she's the one causing trouble. "What?" He speaks with a sneer in his voice that washes out all the excitement Yuma had when he pulled that cool summon.

"Is there a reason why you're stealing from my friend when he's down?" Yuma straightens her back to try to look intimidating, but she's a foot smaller than this guy, so she's not sure how effective it is. 

Sharks stands silent for a moment before placing Tetsuo's deck in his pocket and takes a few steps toward her. "You. Do you not know who I am?" 

_He acts so shocked that a stranger doesn't know who he is. What a narcissist._ Yuma puts her hands on her hips. "That depends. Have we met before?" Yuma swears they haven't, so she's comfortable asking such a question. Yet when Shark hears that his mouth goes agape. _Am I offending him somehow? I'm just telling the truth!_

"Yuma, you don't have to pretend just to rile him up. I agreed to the bet." Tetsuo, still reeling from his loss, slowly stands up with Kotori's help. 

_So I SHOULD know who he is? Is he that famous?_ "Wait, bet? You bet your whole deck away? Why!?" Yuma saw how Tetsuo put his deck together firsthand. He built that deck from the ground up, why would he give it away so easily?

"..." Tetsuo doesn't answer.

"Tetsuo?"

"He called me a poser duelist with no talent! He said I wouldn't go anywhere no matter how hard I tried." Tetsuo's voice sounded hoarse and ashamed, causing Yuma to feel hurt just looking at him.

Kotori puts a hand on Tetsuo's shoulder. "Tetsuo..." She said they should comfort him, but she's not sure how. 

"...So what if he called you a poser?" Yuma, contrary to Kotori's gentleness, smacks her hand against Tetsuo's back.

"Ow!" Tetsuo cries.

"Yuma!" Kotori yells.

"Yuma..." Shark mutters.

"Who cares what this guy thinks about you? He might have that awesome summon but you have your awesome spirit."

"Yuma..."

"Look, I lost count of the people who called me talent-less, and a loser, and a poser, but you were never one of them! You always win our race every morning and I always lose bets with you, but you never called me talent-less for it." Yuma smiles. "You're my friend right? So trust me when I say you DO have talent, and you're NOT a poser, and you WILL go somewhere...wherever that is. And losing to a bully in a duel over a mean bet doesn't change that."

"...Thanks Yuma." Tetsuo doesn't sound convinced, but he sounds more at ease. "Maybe you should try for a life coach career instead of trying for Duel Champion huh? You'd at least have a solid career before you reach the age of thirty..."

"Oh shut up! I'll go for Duel Champion even if it takes a hundred years!"

"Duel Champion? You think you can be Duel Champion in this lifetime!?" Shark snapped, furious at her lackadaisically attitude and pretending he's not there. He storms toward her. "Do you even know what it takes to be a Duel Champion? No? Then don't talk about it so casually!" 

Yuma looks at Shark like he grew two extra heads. "...What's your problem?" She removes her hand from Tetsuo's back and frowns. "How would you know what it takes to be a Duel Champion?"

"Because he participated in tournaments dingus!" Someone Yuma didn't notice until now ran to stand behind Shark. "How dare you talk to him like that!"

"Yeah!" Another person Yuma didn't notice stood beside the other student. "Shark is the best duelist in the entire school! Have dare you! You should be grateful he even duels with losers like him!" The bully points at Tetsuo like he's a beetle he stepped on.

Yuma remains unimpressed. "I don't care if he participated in tournaments or is the best in the school or whatever. I only know what I saw, and what I saw is that he hurt my friend, who's not a loser! Who the he-who the heck bullies people into betting their whole deck! That's not impressive, that's mean and pathetic!"

"You...!" Shark is fuming now.

"What, is being mean a prerequisite for being a Duel Champion? If so then being a Duel Champion or doing tournaments isn't as amazing as I thought it was! Maybe I _should_ dream of being a life coach instead!"

"Is being mean a prerequisite...You say that sarcastically, but you're not too far off the mark." Then he grabs Yuma's key and yanks it off her neck. Before Yuma could stop him the two goons grab her by her arms. Tetsuo and Kotori don't know how to react, so they just stand there scared for Yuma's safety.

"To be a Duel Champion you have to be cruel, sadistic and hurt as many people as possible. You can't care what other people think of you."

"Hey! Stop!" Yuma wants to bite off the arms holding her in place, but she remembers her grandma telling her she'll be dissapointed if she hurt others.

"And if you want to be Duel Champion when you're not capable of being one..." He drops the key on the ground. "Be prepared to have your dreams..." He lifts his foot into the air. "BROKEN!" He smashes his foot into the key.

**_C R A C K_ **

He kicks the piece he broke off into the nearby bush. The goons let go of the stunned Yuma as she stares at whats left of her key. Her lifeline. Broken. She picks it up. She can't hear anything anymore. She long forgotten the days when she didn't have the key close to her chest. It was something that defined her very being. And its broken.

"Y-Yuma...?" Tetsuo calls out to her. He wants to slap his hand on her back like she did to him just a minute ago, but he feels he doesn't deserve to comfort her like that. After all, her treasured item wouldn't be broken if he didn't accept that stupid bet.

"Is this what it mean to be a good duelist? Hurting people?" Tears threaten to escape from her eyes as she glares at Shark. She can't even see his face clearly through her watery eyes, but she can guess he must be proud of himself. "Guess that makes you a good duelist. Congrats." She runs down the stairs and toward the bush where the piece must have fallen into. When she reaches the bush she can't see anything anymore and her head feels like a volcano about to pop, so she just runs into the bush where no one can see her and sobs her heart out. 

_"Whoever opens this door shall obtain great power, but in exchange they will lose what's most important to them. Will you open it?"_

"Yuuuma! YUUUMA!"

"..."

"There you are...Yuma what the fuck are you doing in a bush? Why is your hand bleeding?"

"...Akari?"

"Yeah? Have something to say to me miss?"

"...Grandma doesn't like it when you curse."

"Yeah? Well you know what else Grandma doesn't like? You getting hurt." Akari reaches her hand out for Yuma. "Now get out of the bush so I can see your hand."

"..." Yuma holds onto Akari's hand and lets herself be pulled out. Akari brushes off some of the debris stuck on Yuma, but its no use. 

"When we get home you're showering. Now give me the other hand so I can tend to it."

"..."

"Yuma."

Yuma holds her closed fist in front of Akari, avoiding eye contact. Akari rolls her eyes and pulls the hand apart, but when she sees what she's holding she sucks the air between her teeth. In Yuma's palm was a bloody and broken key.

"I'm sorry," Yuma sniffles. "I...I was going to look for the piece that broke off but..." Akari pulls the key out of Yuma's hand. "P-please don't take it!"

"..." Akari sighs, reties the string and puts it around Yuma's neck. "Don't touch it, and take it off when you go to sleep." Akari pulls out a bottle of antiseptic and bandages from her satchel. "I swear I'm going to have to carry a whole hospital in my bag for you one of these days..." She begins tending to Yuma's hand. It hurts. "Kotori called me. She wouldn't tell me what happened, but she said that you wouldn't respond to her or Tetsuo no matter how much they yelled. Care to explain?"

"..."

"You know usually when middle-schoolers are upset they run home and cry in their bed. Frankly I think a bed is a much more apt crying spot than a bush. Or a hammock I guess since you insist on sleeping in that dingy attic." 

"..."

"When I was little I had a "Do Not Disturb" sign plastered on my front door. Think you'll hang one of those on this bush?"

"..."

"Yuma." Akari finishes bandaging Yuma's hand and proceeds to pinch her cheeks. "What happened to this chatterbox? You usually talk a mile a minute."

"...You have terrible bedside manners," Yuma complains.

Akari goes, "Hmph! Well that's why I'm a journalist and not a doctor!" She sighs. "If you don't want to talk about it for now I won't pressure you. But you should know I do investigation work for a living, so if someone's bullying you I won't let them off easy. If you need someone to back you up just let me know." Akari awkwardly puts a hand on Yuma's shoulder. "You don't have to go through this alone."

"...Thanks Akari." Yuma isn't quite convinced, but she's comforted. "By the way do you think I could be a life coach? Tetsuo suggested it."

"HA!" Akari can't help but let out a laugh. "What, like scream at how great people are doing and get paid for it? Sure, that sounds perfect for you."

"We could both do it. Like a life coach sister duo?" Yuma smiles. "Bet we could be the best sister duo life coaches in the world!"

"Pfft." Akari unceremoniously places a motorcycle helmet on Yuma's head. "Sorry kid, I already have a career path ahead of me. You're on your own when it come to your weird dreams. Now what else does Grandma not like?"

"Being late for dinner?"

"Bingo!" Akari puts on her own helmet and walks toward her motorcycle. "Let's be off!"

* * *

"Will you open the door?"

"I can't..."

The ground beneath her can't even bother to break apart this time, so she's left standing there in front of this door. Its jaw is covered in chains and yet it's not enough to shut it up.

"Can you open the door?"

"No."

"...Open the door to attain a new power..."

Why won't this door give up?

That morning Yuma woke up in a cold sweat, broken key hanging around her neck. She knows she's not supposed to wear it in her sleep, but somehow it ends up around her neck anyway. The clock says 6:20 am. She gets out of her hammock. She brushes her teeth, washes her face, takes her pills, gets dressed and walks downstairs to see Grandma making breakfast on the stove. 

"Yuma? You're up early..." Grandma's eyes are directed toward Yuma's key. When she realizes this Yuma quickly stuffed the key under her shirt.

"Good morning...um, what are you making?" 

"...It's just omurice. There was this neat trick that I wanted to try where they twist the omelet to make it swirl, but I can't seem to find a way to keep the omelette together. My hands are getting shakier and shakier..."

"Cool." Grandma loves to watch and replicate cooking videos. However unlike Yuma, even when Grandma fails her food still tastes good. Whenever Yuma tries to cook a pan or pot is always prone to being sacrificed. 

"...Yuma do you want to talk about anything? My ears still work you know," Grandma says in good humor. 

"It's fine." Yuma sits down at the table. "Is it almost done?"

"Oh. She sits down for breakfast. Did the sun set in the west this morning?" Grandma drops her questioning as soon as she realized Yuma wouldn't open up. "Give me two more minutes. If this swirly omelette technique works I want you to take a picture with your phone."

"Alright...Hey grandma?"

"Yeah?"

Yuma puts the bandaged hand to her chin in a thinking pose. "Uh, this is, totally a thought out of the blue, but if someone hurt Mom or Dad what would they do?"

"That depends. Did this someone, theoretically, also hurt their friends?"

"Yeah."

"Then they'd fight 'em without question."

Yuma's eye almost pop out of her sockets. "R-really? But I thought you didn't want me to hurt anyone."

"Hurting is different than fighting. Not every fight is about hurting. And I'm not talking about fighting with fists. Or biting." Grandma turns away from the sizzling pan and winks at her.

"..." Yuma's hand reaches inside her pocket where Dad's deck is. Its another thing she always carries with her, and another thing she's not willing to lose. If facing Shark the first time meant having her key broken, what's going to happen if she tries to duel him? What's he going to do with Dad's deck? 

"But what if Sh-what if this guy's only goal is to hurt people?"

"Well then your parents would teach him the meaning of a real fight. If this boy's only goal is to hurt people than he's already lost."

"A real fight...what if they lost and-and uh, lost something important to them?"

Grandma breaks another omelette and tries again. "If they stood for what they believe is right and refused to give in than they won't lose, regardless of the scoreboard." Grandma looks down into the pan. "Even if it means giving up the things they treasure, they won't regret following their hearts. And I'm sure if you followed your heart, even at the cost of the things you loved, even at the cost of the things _they_ loved, they'd still be proud of you."

"..."

"What are you guys talking about?" Akari walks in stretching. "Yuma, how are you up so early? Usually I have to drag you of your hammock."

"...No you don't! You haven't woken me up since I entered middle school!"

Akari puts her hands on her hips. "That's because you should be able to get up by yourself when you enter middle school! It's a teaching opportunity I'm giving you, you know."

"What does _that_ mean?"

"You'll understand when you're more grown up." She ignores Yuma making faces at her. "Grandma are you trying to make a tornado omelette?"

"Yes! Would you like one? You're working at home today aren't you? I'm sure I'll make at least one before we run out of eggs."

"Yeah but I have a meeting in ten minutes. I'll just grab an omelette from your failure pile. Yuma if you want to run to school you got half an hour."

"...Um!" Yuma stands up. "I'll take one of the failure omelettes with some rice. I think I'm just going to walk today."

After eating some spoonfuls of rice and eggs haphazardly Yuma gives Grandma a kiss on the forehead, grabs her bag, and walks calmly out the front door. As she's walking she hears Tetsuo's skateboard, but then the hovering sound stops. Turning around she sees Tetsuo off his skateboard running after her. "Yuma!"

"Morning Tetsuo."

"You don't feel like racing?"

"Not today."

"...Yeah that's fair. Mind if I walk with you?"

"Why would I mind?"

"Well, I-"

Yuma puts an arm on Tetsuo's shoulder. "-Did nothing wrong."

* * *

Today Yuma didn't take any bets. She didn't go to the nurse even once. She had her lunch at a steady pace. And she almost understood what her professors were saying. Almost. Now she's sitting next to Kotori quietly as Kotori finishes an assignment.

 _It's weird. I thought I'd be miserable today. But it's like...I don't really feel anything._ Yuma looks at the broken key. _I'm just...okay. I could just go at this pace for the rest of my life if I wanted to. This key...just because its broken doesn't mean that I'm broken. I know that...I knew that._

"Gosh, its heartbreaking just looking her. It's like her soul's been sucked out." A classmate she doesn't remember the name of can't help but comment to his partner, which Yuma then overhears. 

_Soul? Yeah, that's right, I feel soulless. Like nothing matters. And that's fine. I don't need a soul. I don't need this useless key. So why do I still want to hold it?_

"Shhh don't say that out loud!" Other students starting talking among themselves.

"Did you hear what Shark did yesterday? He broke her necklace because she picked a fight with him."

"Gah why did she do that!? I always knew she was reckless, but this? She has only herself to blame."

"Oh please. Shark is the worst, he probably would break other people's stuff for not liking their hairstyle. Yuma might have just said hello and that's enough to irritate him."

"Some Duel Champion participant! Can't even handle Yuma, how'd he even get into tournaments?"

"Cheating."

"Cheating?"

"Yeah, I heard he cheated and was then disqualified."

"That's just a rumor! I've seen him play and he's no pushover. I bet he was framed."

"Pfft sure, and he acts like such an innocent victim. Don't defend him like that. He's not worth it."

"I guess..."

"Maybe we should do something for Yuma? To make her feel better?"

"I know a guy who's mom is a jewelry store owner. Maybe we could find a replacement for her necklace."

"But what if it's expensive? I heard her parents found it while exploring another country. It could be, like, a thousand years old or something."

"If that's the case Shark should be sued for breaking it!"

"We can't afford a lawyer either!"

"We could just duel her. She's always looking for people to duel her, and she doesn't care if she loses."

"Yeah but she's going to duel Shark so she'll lose her deck..."

 _Duel?_ Yuma shoots up out of her seat. "What do you mean I'm dueling Shark?"

The group of student gossiping away stopped mid-track at her voice. "U-uh."

"It's nothing! You shouldn't duel Shark! We'll duel you!"

"Yeah! He's not worth losing your whole deck over!"

"He'll wipe the floor with you!"

"Don't egg her on like that!"

"Hey Kotori," Yuma calls out to her. 

Kotori jolts a little and takes off her headphones. "Sorry, what's up."

"I'm going to head out early. Good luck!"

"You need it more than I do," she says as she puts on her headphones. Yuma was pretty glum today, so Kotori didn't want to bother her too much. Hopefully she'll get her pep back soon.

Yuma runs out of the classroom.

"...Great going. Now she's definitely going to lose her deck."

"W-well maybe we could buy her more cards?"

"We're not made of money! What, you know a guy who's grandpa is a card store owner now?"

* * *

"SHARK!!!" Yuma slams open the door to the empty classroom Shark and his goons were lounging in. The goons take defensive positions around Shark as Shark stayed seated, feet placed on his desk. When he sees Yuma he looked aghast for a moment before putting on a more apathetic appearance.

"What? I already gave your friend his deck back."

"WHEN IS-wait what?"

Shark looks out the window. "I said I gave your friend his deck back. It's not like he had any useful cards so I couldn't be bothered to keep it."

"Yeah, his deck sucked!" One of the goons helpfully yelled. Shark rolled his eyes.

"Anyway I offered to duel you, but then I thought it was enough to break that necklace of yours, so we don't need to meet. Now leave me alone."

"Yeah leave him alone!" The other yelled.

"Please shut up," Shark grumbled.

"Sorry," the goon said.

"Yeah sorry," the other goon also said.

"...So what, you're saying we're even now. You break my KEY, which is NOT a necklace, and then you think you can wash your hands of it?"

"Do you still want to pick fights with me? Do you want me to shatter the rest of it?"

"Is all you're good for is breaking stuff? I thought you were a big-shot duelist. Aren't you going to duel me and take my deck? If you wanna keep hurting people you can toss my deck into the river _after_ you win. But if you're just going to do petty things without proving your worth than as far as I'm concerned you're not a real duelist. You're just a coward."

_SLAM_

Shark bangs his hand against the desk and stands up. He storms toward Yuma, but pauses when he sees Yuma holding her key with her bandaged hand. "What? You're just going to finish the job? Go ahead and try. I was being nice by not ripping your friends' arms off yesterday. Just because I don't like hurting people doesn't mean I won't." Yuma glared at Shark. She's serious. The goons stagger back, but Shark's not bothered by the threat.

"...Fine," Shark says. "Meet me at the square plaza tomorrow at noon. We'll bet on our decks."

"I don't want your deck."

Shark looks flabbergasted. "Well, want do you want then?"

"An apology."

"...! That's it?"

"Well its not like you can fix what you broke, so an apology isn't a lot to ask for. Just say you were wrong, and that you won't do it again."

"...Deal. See you then." With that he brushed past Yuma and left the classroom, his goons chasing after him. "Don't cry when you lose..."

* * *

On her way home Yuma runs into Kotori and Tetsuo.

"Yuma," Kotori says. "Are you going to duel Shark?"

"Yep!" Yuma replies. "I need to settle the score."

"No, you don't," Tetsuo says. "I got my deck back so there's no need-"

"I'm not doing this for you Tetsuo. I know you were hurt, and I feel bad about that, but I was hurt too, and I won't feel at peace until he realizes he's in the wrong." Yuma clasps onto the broken key. "Maybe it won't ever be fixed, but maybe by fighting him I can stop him from hurting others."

"Yuma..."

"I thought I was going to die Tetsuo. I know that sounds dramatic, but its the truth. When I went into that bush I felt I had to hold onto what's left so badly I almost broke my hand." Yuma lifts up said hand. "Akari joked that she'll have to carry a hospital in her bag because I keep hurting myself."

"Yuma that's not funny," Kotori muttered.

"But then today, it was like, 'well what's the point?' my heart was still beating after it broke, even when I stopped hearing it. Someone said I lost my soul, and I thought for a moment that maybe that's true, and that wasn't such a big deal. But I was wrong! My soul can't disappear. It was just snuffed out." Yuma tugged at the key until it threatened to break the string keeping it around her neck. "I imagined dueling Shark, and I can hear it again. I can feel my heartbeat _racing_. How can it not! Tetsuo what was it like dueling him?"

"...He's as impressive as people say he is, so you shouldn't-"

"Hehehe..." Yuma suddenly wanted to run and do somersaults. "Is he? Is he impressive! I have to see it! I have to see it firsthand!"

"But Yuma you'll lose your deck!"

"Then I'll just rebuild it! And then I'll face him again. Again and again!" Yuma looked Tetsuo dead in the eye. "Tetsuo I thought I was going to die because my key broke, but I know differently now. What will really kill me is if I give up, like I almost did today, and I won't even notice I'm dying until its too late. So don't tell me to back out of the duel Tetsuo. I won't. I can't. And I don't want to."

"..." Tetsuo returns Yuma's gaze. Her eyes are an open book, filled with anticipation, excitement, cautiousness, and buried under all of that, anxiety. Everyone at school used to think she had no fear, but the truth is the only reason don't notice her fear is because she drowns it with adrenaline and sheer determination all the time. Of course she's scared of losing. She probably knows she doesn't have a chance, but will that stop her? Of course not. Yuma doesn't give in. If her capabilities matched her enthusiasm, she'd have taken over the world by now. 

"Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you." Tetsuo pulls out something from his pocket and hands it to Yuma. Its the piece of the key Shark kicked into the bushes. Yuma was so desperate to find it and yet she completely forgot about it.

"Tetsuo..."

"Alright alright you don't have to-" Too late. Yuma's arms were already wrapped around as much of Tetsuo as she's able to hold.

"You're the best!"

"Okay, okay I'm the best now let go you're embarrassing me!" Tetsuo wiggles out of Yuma's grasp.

"...Hey Tetsuo."

"Yeah?"

Yuma starts running.

"Where are you going?"

"Racing!"

"Wha-HEY! That's not fair! Hold up!" Tetsuo almost trips over his skateboard as he climbs onto it and chases after her, leaving poor Kotori in the dust.

"BYE KOTORI! SEE YOU TOMORROOOOOOW!" Yuma screams as she runs further and further away. "WOAH." She must have tripped. Kotori can't hold back her smile when imagining that.

* * *

"Will you open the door?"

"..."

"Will you open it?"

"..."

As she faced the door it sounded more and more insistent.

"Open the door."

"Open the door."

"OPEN-"

**"O K A Y !"**

"Will you open it?"

"I will!"

"Are willing to lose what you love most?"

"...I am."

"Then..."

She holds the key in her grasp. Deep down, she knew it was meant to unlock this door, but she didn't want to accept it. She's not ready to accept it, even now. But can she stop here? No.

If she continues to hesitate, the ground will continue to crumble beneath her, and she'll fall over and over and over again.

No more waiting for the ground to falter. She runs toward the door and with the key that she called her lifeline unlocks it. With a heavy click the chains the door wrapped itself in falls apart and the door opens. An ethereal being, ninety-nine cards, and a thousand memories.

"Stand up.

And win."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's two things I liked to imagine with Yugioh and the spin-offs that I watched. One is what if the main characters were girls because when I was younger all I wanted was female characters in shounen shows. Two is a cacophony of ideas and what-ifs that has stayed glued in my mind for years. So then I was like "well why not do both?" and here we are. I don't know how many readers will want this kind of fic, but hey its been about a month since I started this draft and if I didn't post this now it would have been deleted, which admittedly would not be the first time. This is going to be extremely self-indulgent and if you happen to enjoy it with me that'll be wild. Stay safe.


	2. A Weird Dueling Alien Interrupts My Card Game

"Stand up

And win."

"...uhhhh..." _What just happened? Who is this? Wh-what is this? Hey, d-don't look at me like that! I'M not the odd one out!_

Yuma was facing Shark as promised, and it was going bad for Yuma. She was having the time of her life. She couldn't help but do a few back-flips while taking damage, which while impressive did not improve her strategy of "do whatever excites her." Then Shark said something to rile her up, and Yuma once again told him off about trying to bring her down. Whatever she said must have been powerful, because as she screamed it the string attached to her key snapped, and in a blink of an eye the key seemed to have fixed itself. What was it that she said...?

"Stand up.

Let's win."

"Uh...huh?"

"Can you not comprehend my presence? Do you need to sit down while dueling?"

"I-I-I can comprehend just fine!" Yuma practically leaps off the floor and starts circling the strange being. The being has an odd glow that makes it hard to see them clearly. For some reason half of them is brighter than the other half. They remind her of those expensive pieces of jewelry in magazines Akari likes to read in her spare time. There was this ring Akari really liked, but she never told Yuma why she liked it, or why she couldn't buy it herself. There was also those earrings Akari tries to get Yuma to wear, ones with pretty jewels inside it and are a pain because she has to take them off during swim practice. The being has earrings too, but instead of the jewels being just in their earrings that had jewels attached all around their body. They also had strange markings...

The being can't recall anything. They don't know how they got there, but they know its due to the strange person circling them. She has dark skin, mostly covered in strange colorful coverings. Her hair has two colors, black and hot pink. The hot pink in her hair forms two large strands that reach the back of her head, and the black in her hair is being tied together by her shoulders with what looks like string. Her deep red eyes are staring intensely at the being.

"Are you looking for weak spots?"

"No you're just weird! I mean, sorry maybe you're normal where you come from, but you're weird here! Are you a spirit or an alien or something?"

"Are those effects we can use?"

"Excuse me?"

"Are 'Spirit' and 'Alien' effects we can use? How would we trigger them?"

"Th-they're not...h-how about we introduce ourselves first. I'm Yuma Tsukumo. What's your name?"

"Astral."

"Astral..."

"I think."

"You think?"

"Yuma! Who are you talking to?" Kotori asks through the gazer.

"Did you knock your head after that attack? Stop daydreaming!" Tetsuo yells into his gazer.

"Uh, you guys can't see them?"

"Them?" Both of Yuma's friends tilt their head in unison.

"Their name is Astral. I think they might be an alien or something."

"...Yuma maybe there's something wrong with your gazer set. I'll look at it when you're done with the match," Kotori says. "Just pull yourself together!"

"I-I'm as pulled together as I can be!" Yuma looks at Shark. "Hey Shark! Do you see a pretty floating uh...person next to me?"

Shark doesn't respond. Now that Yuma's paying attention she realizes that there's a weird glint in his eyes. Also in front of him is an XYZ monster she's never see before, which is what knocked her down to the ground.

"Uh, Shark?"

"Number 17...Leviath Dragon. When I summoned it I felt immense power coursing through me. All that matters is power!" The number 17 appeared on the back of Shark's hand. "With this, there's now way I'll lose!"

"...So I'm guessing that's a no." Yuma sighed. "Great that you're filled with immense power. All I'm filled with is confusion."

"Numbers..."

"You know what they are?"

"They have my memories."

"...!"

"I need to win this duel."

"Wait how-"

"My turn!"

"Hey this is my game! MY turn!" Yuma draws her next card.

"Put it in-"

"Hey hey hey! You're not supposed to interfere with other people's duels! I'll set-"

"But I know how to win."

"Well that's good for you! But that doesn't change the fact that this is still my game and assistance is cheating."

"Nobody but you can see me."

"That still doesn't make it okay! Just let me play."

"..."

Astral lets her play for a turn. She's bad at dueling. Really bad at dueling. She's doesn't bother with strategy at all. How is it that they've been linked to such an amateur duelist? 

"Okay I let you play for a turn so let me guide you now."

"I still can't have guidance!"

"But your tactics aren't as good as mine."

"Grrr..."

"If I let you play another turn you'll lose."

"GRRR..." Yuma starts stomping her feet and pacing back and forth. "Not as good as you? Not as good? I'll definitely lose? What do you know!? Who do you think you are!? How can an alien be a better duelist than me!? What does this have to do with you?"

"Your opponent has a Number. Only other Numbers can attack it. Whoever wins will absorb the others Numbers...If you lose, I'll disappear."

"..."

"But if we win, I'll get part of my memory back."

"...This sucks."

"Hey, have you given up now? You have no chance." Her irritation, confusion and frustration peeked at Sharks goading. 

"Oh will you FUCK OFF!!! How many time do I have to say I won't give up for it to register in that thick skull of yours?" She knows Grandma would be dissapointed at her bad language, but the words fly out of her mouth before she can catch them. _I'll just have to buy grandma something sweet behind Akari's back later._

"You..." Shark was ecstatic at his newfound power, yet Yuma still refuses to take him seriously, ruining his good mood. She realizes she's going to lose doesn't she? 

"What, did you want me to cry again? What a jerk! If making people miserable and resigned is what makes you happy, then the person giving up here is you! Is that why you want me to surrender? Because you've already given up?"

"Why do you keep pissing me off...?" Shark knows he's in the wrong, but the one thing he can't stand is people like Yuma, losers who think they can make something of themselves. He probably should have offered to apologize in the first place, even if its not entirely sincere. Then he wouldn't have started this ridiculous duel. She's piss poor at dueling, yet she still has the nerve to smile and laugh the second Shark stops goading her. He doesn't know whether Yuma hates him or not, but he suspects that even if she lost she wouldn't care, deck taken or not. So why bother? 

"I don't know maybe you shouldn't be pissy about other people having hope you piece of-!"

"Yuma! Calm down," Kotori says. If not for the monster in the way Yuma looked ready to deck Shark in the jaw. 

"...Sorry, Kotori." Yuma takes a deep breath. She looks at the strange being who showed up out of nowhere. "If this duel puts your life and memories on the line, then I'm not fighting for myself anymore. I don't like it, but I'll give this duel to you."

"That's the smartest thing you've said."

"Then once this is over, I'll just have to challenge him again! And you won't interfere because your life won't be a stake right?"

"Sure, but you'll lose."

"And here I am being so kind and generous, and this is how you treat me. Humph!"

* * *

Yuma's not a good strategist, but admittedly her impulsiveness isn't as worthless as Astral first observed. They don't exactly know what to call it, but Yuma seems to have a peculiar sense of determination even when she can't see a road to victory. No, when she can't see the road to victory, she's all the more excited to drive through. The more impossible the situation, the more resolved she is overcome it. It's a powerful double-edged sword. Astral's glad that they won with the Number they already had, Number 39 - Aspiring Emperor Hope, but Astral would prefer it if they controlled the duel from the get-go next time.

"I...I won?"

"Y-Yuma won? Yuma won! Yuma you won!" Kotori couldn't help crying in excitement. "Yuma that was your first win! And it was against Shark!"

"Yuma..." Tetsuo looked ready to cry.

"Guys!" Yuma runs up to her two friends running in place. "Did you see that! Did you see me summon a XYZ monster! Did you see me beat Shark with that 5,000 point attack? Wow. _Wow!_ I thought that even losing in duels is fun, but winning? What a thrill!" She starts jumping. "Tetsuo! Let race! I need to run! Right now!"

"I didn't bring my skateboard!"

"Then run with me!"

"No way! I can't run as fast as you! Its not fair!"

"Since when was it fair when you're on a skateboard and she's on her feet?" Kotori laughed.

"You've seen how fast she runs! It's called leveling the playing field Kotori."

Ninety-nine. That's how many Numbers scattered. They have 17 and 39. If they attain them all, will all of their memory come back?

Yuma is ready to do cartwheels when she notices someone right behind her. "Shark?"

Shark looks at her. Without that smirk, or that sneering attitude, he actually looks...like an alright person. He bows his head. "I'm sorry for breaking your ne-I'm sorry for breaking your key. I was wrong." Yuma's jaw drops. She forgot that she asked him to apologize if she won. It didn't even occur to her that he'd actually bother doing it. 

He turns his back to her. "Yuma Tsukumo. I'll remember this." He starts walking...but then Yuma chases after him and gets in his way. "What else do you want?"

"It doesn't count."

"Huh?"

"It doesn't count! I had a lot of fun, but then it got all weird right before the end. I don't think its fair! Let's duel again!"

"...You mean you want to risk losing your deck for an apology _again_?"

"No! I don't need an apology anymore! And you don't need my deck. I want to duel you. You're really fun to play with, so promise me we'll duel again! Without the betting and the weird stuff!"

"...Hmph." Yuma decides to take that as a yes and lets him walk away. Shark isn't as bad a person...no, maybe he _was_ as bad a person as she thought, but now Yuma sees he's still capable of being a good person. She's sure of it.

"Yuma?" Kotori holds out her hand. "You looked like you were talking to thin air back in that duel. Can I see your gazer?"

"Oh! Sure." Yuma takes off her gazer and hands it to Kotori. When she sees Astral still there crossing their arms, she knew it wasn't an issue with the gazer.

"Did you come through the door?"

"A door...yes. I did go through a door. I saw you on the other side."

"Door?" Tetsuo asks.

"Never mind. Let's go!" Yuma starts running.

"Wha-hey! You cheater!" Tetsuo chases after her.

"Yuma don't leave your gazer behind!" Kotori follows behind them.

As Yuma runs Astral floats behind her.

* * *

"Hey, uh..."

"Yes?"

"How long are you sticking around for?" Yuma waited until she was in the attic to talk with the mysterious being. They were constantly asking questions about food and exercise and why the light in the sky changed and so on and so forth. Akari and Grandma are already worried enough about her and she doesn't need to add to their pile of concerns, so she tried her best to ignore the being until they were alone. 

"Until I get my memory back." Apparently the coverings humans use is called "clothing" which change depending on the occasion. When she arrived at her 'attic' she asked Astral to turn around, and after she said its fine to turn around she was wearing much simpler clothing than earlier today. What this "clothing" is for is yet to be answered, since Yuma refused to answer any of their questions in detail.

"And the way to get them back is through...cards?"

"Yes."

"And how many cards are there."

"Ninety-nine."

"N-ninety-nine...how long do you think that'll take?"

"As long as it needs to."

"Uuuuuuuugh."

"Is there a problem?"

"Yes, there's a problem! I can barely find the time to duel more than ten times a week! Am I just supposed to give you all of my duels?"

"No. Just the ones where Numbers are involved."

"How will you know they have numbers?"

"Well that...Shark had the number placed on the back of his hand. My assumption is that any human holding a Number will have it placed on their person."

"And will you be able to like...sense if they're nearby?"

"No idea."

Yuma groans and gets out of her hammock.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting water."

"What's water?"

"Something humans need to survive. Its also used to take pills and wash down tough food."

"Wash down? Pills?"

"Look I had a long day. I'll talk to you more about life here on the way to school tomorrow. Just let me drink my water and go to sleep."

"Sleep?"

"It means I'll close my eyes and won't be able to talk to you for a while." Yuma climbs down the ladder and out of her bedroom. Reaching the bathroom she grabs a cup, fills it with water, and downs it. It doesn't really do anything for the headache, but it calms her down. As she was heading back to her bedroom the lights went out. "Uh."

"Why did everything go dark? Is this what sleep is like?"

"No its just a blackout. Usually this only happens when there's a big thunderstorm though. Weird."

"How do you fix it?"

"I can't. A repairman will probably come in our neighborhood to see whats wrong." Yuma's not scared of the dark, but now she can't climb the ladder. "Guess I'll just have to use the bed..." She walks slowly, but she still manages to trip over something. "Ow!"

"I see. So humans can't see in the dark. That's why you have lights."

"Can you see in the dark?" Astral is the only thing Yuma can see, glowing like a star, but they're not casting light onto anything in the room. 

"...I don't need to because I'm floating, hence I can't trip over anything."

"You could just say you can't you know. It's not a sign of weakness to admit that."

"Then why can't you admit you're bad at dueling?"

"GOOD NIGHT!" Yuma reaches the bed and falls into it. Its obviously softer and more comfortable than the hammock, but she prefers the cozy safeness of the attic. But if she stays awake Astral is going to keep asking her questions. _Just close your eyes Yuma, close your eyes..._

"...Yuma?" She stopped answering. That must mean she is now "asleep." 

* * *

She's making strange noises. Astral will have to ask what those noises are when she is no longer "asleep." Astral looks around the room, with no luck. They can see Yuma just fine, but not anything else. _Why did I meet you Yuma?_ Astral doesn't have enough observations to conclude how they feel about this human, but if she's meant to help them, whoever or whatever made that decision was sorely mistaken. _Is this a test to measure my patience?_ Yuma stopped making the noises and went still. _I suppose I can't be picky. This Yuma did agree to help me, however begrudgingly. I can only hope she won't decide to be reckless when my life is on the line._

"Yuma?"

 _...!_ It's that other human who lives here, Akari. She has a device in her hand that's emitting light. She shines it on Yuma for a second before turning the device away from Yuma's face.

"You went to sleep in your bed. For once," Akari whispered. 

Akari moves closer to Yuma's side and puts a hand on her head.

"'Night kid."

The human presses her mouth onto Yuma's forehead for a moment, and then leaves the room. Astral desperately wants to ask Yuma why Akari did that, but Yuma is "asleep" so they can't. _I want to know what I'm doing here. I want to know what memories I lost. I want to know about this world. I want to know why these humans do such strange things. I want to know of all people, why its this Yuma I meet. How long will it take for this curiosity to be sated?_

* * *

The next morning the lights returned. Apparently the blackout was happening all over the city, but since it occurred in the middle of the night for only a couple of hours very few people noticed. Since Yuma managed to get up early she has time to answer Astral's questions, but at the cost of refusing to race Tetsuo. 

Yuma changed clothing again, this time in her "school uniform." Apparently this set of clothing is required for when she attends "school."

"Are you okay?" Tetsuo asked.

"I'm fine! I just feel like taking it easy. It was a long day yesterday."

"That's fair. Hey did you notice the blackout last night? I was updating my skateboard while it happened. I was hearing a weird noise coming out of it like...laughter? It was really creepy."

"You update your skateboard?"

"What does he mean by 'update?'"

"Yeah what do you mean by 'update?'"

"Well-I-I don't know! Everything needs to be updated nowadays! Anyway see you at school!" Tetsuo runs away from the questions he can't answer.

"...Alright so if you have questions ask them now."

"Okay. To start off why are you so incompetent when it comes to-"

"Next question!"

* * *

When Yuma is alone she finally starts answering their questions, though she doesn't have an exact answer to everything. From what they can gather humans function by consuming "food" which comes in various different forms. They also have "water" to drink alongside this "food" although there are also liquids that humans can take, like "coffee," which Yuma is not allowed to have. After consuming food they absorb it's affects and turn it into "energy" and anything not usable is thrown out of the body thanks to a "bathroom." Apparently only one person can enter the bathroom at a time because of "common courtesy." Yuma says that humans have to knock before entering a bathroom because of this. This is a conundrum, because Astral cannot knock, hence the bathroom experience may forever be a mystery to them... 

Water, aside from being used for consumption, is also used for a slew of other uses. Yuma mentions that she takes pill, which are used for "headaches" which she doesn't explain but Astral can assume from the word that the pills remove pain from the head area. These pill are dry and " super gross" so the water transports it from the mouth to the place it needs to be to activated quickly. There's also a "shower" and "bath" which both have similar attributes, in that they use water to wash skin. There's also a miniature version of the bath called a "sink" which is used specifically to wash their hands and teeth.

"Do you use water to brush teeth."

"For fu-yes I use water to brush teeth! I did it this morning." Yuma is so close to school yet so far. Its only been ten minutes and walking seems to have an effect of exhausting her more.

"Was it that stick with the hair in it."

"Yeah that-" Yuma freezes in place, caught by a terrifying thought "-wait hair?"

"It looked like hair."

"No it didn't!" 

"If it's not hair, then what is it?"

"I...I don't know! But I know they wouldn't use hair!" _But do they? Do they use hair?_ Yuma starts running. 

"Why are you moving faster?"

"Because I don't want to talk anymore!" Yuma runs away from questions she doesn't have answers to.

"What does moving faster have to do with-?"

"No more questions!"

* * *

When Yuma went to sit at her desk she noticed Kotori hasn't arrived. It was almost time. Usually Kotori arrives early to work on computers in the school library, then returns to the classroom right before class starts, but she always leaves her stuff on her desk. Right now her desk is empty. "Did she sleep late?"

"Who slept late?"

"Kotori."

"She was the girl who watched my duel yesterday."

 _Oh YOUR duel huh?_ "Yep. She and Tetsuo are my best friends. Usually her stuff is on her desk so I'm wondering if she's not in school yet."

"The train broke down," a classmate overhearing their conversation spoke up. 

"What!?" Yuma's heart seemed to halt in place. "Is everyone okay? Was there an explosion? No one died right? Right???"

"Nononono the train just stopped moving while on the rail. It started moving again just a minute ago, but anyone who was riding it is going to be late. Even the professor was on it."

"Oh good." Yuma lean back into her chair. She couldn't imagine what she'd do if Kotori ever got hurt.

"By the way..." the classmate kept talking. "Did you...win against Shark?"

"Hm? Uh..."

"WAIT!!! Yuma won against someone?" All the other students look at Yuma like she shaved her head.

"She won against Shark."

"What?"

"Yuma is that true? You won? Against Shark?"

Yuma leans away from the inquisitive classmates. She's used to them talking about her, but not often do they talk _at_ her. "Uh w-well..." Yuma scratches her head. "I guess I won. I mean technically I don't think-"

"OH MY FUCKING GOD SHE WON AGAINST SHARK!!!" The students scream. Yuma feels ready to leave the classroom now.

"How!? How the hell did you win against Shark?"

"You sold your soul didn't you? It's the only way you could have won. Why'd you do it? Why'd you sell your soul just like that!? Who has your losing streak now?"

"What's a soul?"

"Forget her soul! Her win must have caused a rift in reality! No wonder its been so weird today! Yuma you have to lose again or else the world is going to end!"

"These humans are really excited. Are they your best friends too?"

"Er, no...uh guys I might have won against Shark but that was...a fluke! Yeah! I just got lucky."

A classmate snorts. "Oh suddenly she's humble. Maybe she's not the Yuma we know! Maybe she switched places with someone who actually knows how to play duel monsters."

"Impossible! Give us back our Yuma! She might have sucked at everything, but her spirit was undefeatable!"

"Um..." 

"Oh Yuma! She was so young! How could she be gone just like that!"

"Yuma! Oh Yuma! We will never forget you!"

"Yuma why are they now acting like you winning a duel killed you? Are they okay? Are _you_ okay?"

Yuma has no idea. She's just as lost as Astral is on this one.

* * *

After being mourned by her students as she sat there lost in time and space for a moment, the rest of the school day went normal. Except for the dueling alien still following her, but they weren't asking questions constantly like yesterday. Maybe they got the hint that she doesn't like talking to them when others are around. Right now its just her and Kotori walking to Yuma's place.

It appears that Yuma cannot answer all their questions about this world, despite being a native to it. Astral at first assumed its due to her incompetence being not just limited to her dueling, but it appears that its natural for denizens of this world to not be entirely knowing of its own machinations. That is what this "school" is for, to teach them human needs in order for them to survive this world. So instead of depending on Yuma, Astral decides that they can more efficiently collect information about this world though observation and "learning" just like a "student" would.

Unfortunately, no matter how many observations they can make, they can't seem to understand how "Yuma" works as an individual. Astral is aware that bodies need proper maintenance, so why does Yuma seem intent on breaking hers? She crashes her head against these stack-able pieces and stays underwater despite humans being incapable of breathing it. When she is in class Astral swears they can see a forcefield surround Yuma, preventing her from listening to a single thing the teachers say. Astral wishes that they could advise her about her lifestyle, but if Yuma is already irritated with them during duels, there's no way she'd listen to them for anything else. Luckily there's a "nurse" who treats students after they hurt themselves. The nurse seems to see Yuma as a regular and is more than willing to tell her off. Not that Yuma listens to him either. She does this thing with her eyes where she moves them to look at the ceiling then around in a circle.

Speaking of underwater there's another set of clothing called a "swimsuit" which is specifically used for swimming. So far Yuma has five sets of clothing. One is what she was wearing when she and Astral first met, a mismatched set of a black shirt, a red jacket and white pants with orange asymmetrical stripes on them. One is her "pajamas" for when she is ready to "sleep," which are a matching set of a short sleeved shirt and shorts. One is her "school" uniform, which is a red-lined white long sleeve shirt and and blue pants, with a "tie" which Yuma struggles to attach around her neck. One is her "swimsuit" which is a one-piece with shorts over it. And finally one is her "gym clothes" which are a lot like her "pajamas." No matter what set of clothes she wears, she always keeps the key close to her person. 

"Hey Yuma?" Kotori pulls out Yuma's gazer. "You still haven't gotten your gazer back."

"OH! Sorry. Slipped my mind." Yuma yanks the gazer out of Kotori's hands and stuffs it into her bag.

It seems that Yuma would listen to Kotori, but Astral has no way of asking Kotori to advise Yuma for them.

"By the way..." Kotori was about to ask if Yuma was still seeing the "alien" she saw yesterday, but then she realized something was wrong with the the vending machine ahead of them. Its spitting out drinks.

"What's up-oh!" Yuma rushes to the machine and starts picking up the cans. 

"Don't just take them!"

"I'm not! I'm just-WAH!" All of the sudden a cleaner bot grab Yuma's back, causing Yuma to slam the cans against the robot. "WHY DO ROBOTS HATE ME!?" 

The robot drops Yuma and starts picking up the cans. "Garbage. Garbage. Garbage," it says, it's voice breaking apart.

"Does the robot think you're garbage?"

"YOU'RE GARBAGE!" Yuma doesn't know who she's yelling at. She hates when people touch her back, and robots are not an exception.

"Yuma, breath! I think somethings wrong with the servers today."

"Hm?"

"Look at the stoplights." Kotori points to said stoplights. None of the lights in it are on. There's a guard guiding traffic below it. "The stoplights, the train, this vending machine, the streetlights...they're all connected to servers. What if they've been hacked? Or its a new virus?" Kotori's mom is a tech engineer, so she knows a lot about technology. At least, she knows more than Yuma, who doesn't even know what "hacking" means.

Astral wants to know what these "servers" are, but they doubt Yuma knows the answer to this. She still looks a bit shaken by being grabbed from behind by that robot, whose purpose is usually to clean litter and debris from the ground. Astral can see other robots scooping up humans, before setting them down a moment later. Astral actually noticed this happening this morning and yesterday, but didn't mention it because they assumed this was a regular occurrence. 

"Guys!" Tetsuo runs toward them. "Look at my skateboard!"

"...It's a skateboard?" Yuma takes it from Tetsuo's hands.

"It's dead." Kotori states.

"Skateboards can die!?" Yuma looks mortified.

"No I mean the power in the skateboard is dead. Either it disconnected from the online power source that kept it running, or the power source itself is down."

"Why does my skateboard need to be connected online to work!?" Tetsuo looks ready sob. Again. "My skateboard...I just got him last year...my sweet skateboard..."

Yuma gives Tetsuo his skateboard back so he can hug it like a mother hugs their newborn son and pulls the gazer back out. "The gazer looks fine."

"The gazer wasn't connected when this...thing happened," Kotori replies. "Maybe its a good thing you didn't duel today. Or I didn't take the train home. I think being trapped in a train is an experience I'd rather just have once."

"I saved my allowance for you for two years...my skateboard..."

"You know they sell skateboards with wheels at that antique store a few block down. They're really cheap," Yuma tries to helpfully suggest.

"Yeah but you have to make it move by kicking the ground or something. Also you broke yours immediately soon as you bought it so I doubt they're that endurable," Tetsuo grumbles.

"I bet you wouldn't break it because you're good at skating! I just have a knack for breaking things is all."

"True," Kotori says.

"True," Tetsuo says.

"True," Astral says.

"How would you know! We just met! Hmph!" Yuma storms away. Kotori and Tetsuo follow behind her.

"So you can still see the alien huh..." Kotori mumbles.

"Do you think that 'alien' caused the hack?" Tetsuo whispers.

"I don't think that...Astral, I think she called them...I don't think they're involved. If they were some sort of graphic or virus, we'd have seen them during yesterday's duel." Kotori puts a hand to her chin. "I don't know how to believe that there's an invisible alien who only appears before Yuma, but its too wild for me to think she just...imagined it you know?"

"Well to be fair if aliens were to select anyone it'd be Yuma."

Kotori laughs. "If aliens thought of Yuma as a basis for how they think of humanity we'd better be ready for the invasion huh?"

"Heh..." Tetsuo thinks back on the duel. "There was that "Number" summon that showed up. I looked it up after I got home. Nothing. It doesn't exist. Maybe this 'Astral' is involved in that?"

"But we were able to see the summon, but not the alien. Hmmm..."

"Hmmm..." Tetsuo sighs. "I was planning on looking through card databases to see if its a card that retired, but it sounds like that won't be possible today."

"There's supposed to be guards against this, so its not like this shutdown is permanent. Hopefully the power will recover by tomorrow. Unless this hacker keeps-"

"AAAAAAGH!!!" The three friends and the mysterious being hear a shrill scream coming from Yuma's house as they were about to reach it.

"AKARI!" Yuma rushes to the house, slamming the door open. She runs to the living room where Akari usually has meetings. Not there. She runs to Akari's office upstairs. "Akari are you okay? What happened? Who do I bite?"

"Gone...its all gone..." Akari sounds desolate. "Yuma...all my work from today...gone...my delivery...is in a hour..."

On the multiple screens in front of Akari is static and error signs. "O-oh..." Yuma's pretty sure she can't bite a missing delivery. "I'm...I'm sorry...is there anything I can-"

"No. Its fine." Akari lays her head across the virtual keyboard. "My delivery...my scoop...gone..."

"Can this 'scoop' be replaced by one with wheels too?"

"No," Yuma whispers. "Scoop is juicy info that Akari gets paid to write about."

"Is everything okay?" Kotori and Tetsuo catch up with Yuma.

"Gone...all gone..."

"Nothing we can do. Lets just leave her be. I'll see you tomorrow." Yuma nudges her friends away from Akari's sight. 

"Someone...must pay..."

"Gogogogogo!" Yuma loudly whispers to them, trying to warn them before Akari ropes them into working for her like she's done before.

* * *

After helping her friends escape Akari's grasp she had dinner with her sister and grandma. It was pretty good, despite Akari looking like a ghost the whole time. After Yuma mentioned that she was grabbed by the robot Grandma says she was grabbed too! Akari must have been working in her office all day because she didn't realize this hack has been happening all over the city. She stole Yuma's herring and rushed back into her office once the servers went back up.

Now Yuma was writing in the attic.

"What is that?"

"It's a diary."

"And a diary is..."

"A place to put memories."

"Like the Numbers?"

For once, Yuma laughed at what Astral said. "Nah, its not like I could get cool summons out of my memories. That's more of a 'you' thing. Its more like, um..." Yuma closes the book and puts it back into her bag. "A diary is...uuuugh...its like, a thing to recollect things that are important to you. Then later, you can open the diary and think back on things that you cared about. Like today, there was that thing where the vending machine spat out drinks and that cleaner robot bullied me. I was distracted yesterday so I wasn't able to write stuff last night, so I needed to catch up."

"What did you write about yesterday?"

Yuma snorted. "That I hoped to duel Shark again because there's this weird dueling alien who interrupted our first duel."

"...That was my first impression of you."

"That I was an dueling alien?"

"No that you're weird."

"Good night." Yuma gets into her hammock and closes her eyes.

* * *

Yuma started making that weird noise again. Astral wanted to ask what that noise was, and what that thing Akari did last night is called. But perhaps they should wait until Yuma is more comfortable answering questions. After all, these questions wracking Astral's mind are not the biggest one they're searching answers for. Right now their biggest question is what reason they were brought here. _A mission...I'm supposed to be here on a mission...but I don't think anyone on this world can answer what this mission is..._ Yuma stopped making the noises again. _What do you have to have to do with this mission Yuma...who are you?_ Astral looks at the key around her neck. _Does it have to do with this...?_ They reach for the key...

As she sleeps soundly, her hand reaches for the key on her chest, and holds it close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun story the word count in the first chapter didn't load at first. Then I edited and reposted it and do you know what the word count was? 6,666. I did not mean to do that but I guess that means this fic is cursed? This is what I get for making a self-indulgent fic huh. Anyway thanks for making it to the second chapter! The skeleton of the original plot is going to remain intact for the most part, but there's going to be events and details that's going to warp and twist. You might even guess what those twists are at this point. If you do guess right I'm not going to pull and HBO writer and change the entire fic I promise. If you decide to stick around for this now cursed fic that'd be sweet! Take care.


	3. Summaries, Fairies and Flip-Sides

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, heads up. This chapter contains some ableist language, and worse than that, ableist language from middle schoolers. The r-slur isn't used and won't ever be used in this story, but ableist rhetoric becomes an major issue, both with Yuma's classmates (lets remember these kids are middle schoolers which combined with social media and lack of foresight is where they can be at their worst) and Yuma herself. Please be aware that I'm not trying to use this subject lightly. Thank you.

When Yuma came to, Astral was gone. _Guess they must have returned to their home planet or something._ Despite being annoyed at their incessant questions Yuma can't say she hated their presence. She still doesn't know why they appeared in the first place! The old clock on the wall dinged. "It's eight already!?" Yuma doesn't have time to ponder. _I'll just have to think about it later._ Despite only knowing them for a couple of days...Yuma feels a bit empty without Astral's presence.

_Where...am I?_ Astral can't describe what they're looking at. A large contraption made out of odd circular rings. Astral approaches it. From the outside what the contraption could be hiding is clouded in a fog. Astral looks up. They can sense Yuma out there, and that they'll be able to leave without any issues. _And here I was wanting to know all that I could, and then this appears. Something not of this world in a key...I suppose there's no harm in exploring it. If something happens outside I'm sure I'll be able to leave._ Astral enters the contraption.

"Phew! Made it on time!" Yuma didn't have time to do anything except get dressed before running to school at the speed of light. She reached the door just as the bell rang, and she sinks into her seat. 

"Morning. What took you so long?" Kotori whispered next to her.

"Nothing. Just overslept," Yuma whispered back. It's odd, but now that she's no longer dreaming about the door, she's starting to get the feeling she dreams about other things. Or maybe she's always had other dreams, but just wasn't aware of them. Last night, she felt like she was talking to someone, but by the time she woke up she couldn't remember who it was, or what they were talking about. It made it hard to wake up, because all she wanted to do was remember her dream. By the time she finally admitted defeat and got up, Astral was gone and she was late.

"Well it doesn't matter. Look at the screens." Kotori points to the screen in front of her that has an error sign. In fact, all the student screens and even the professor's presentation screens had error signs. "Guess the school computer systems still hasn't recovered from yesterday."

The professor, Mr. Ukyo, was scratching his head nervously. He's usually pretty cool, and encourages Yuma in her attempts a lot of the time. Its a shame she just can't register what he's saying when he teaches. "Well then," he says. "Can't start today's lessons without the monitors. Since the computer broadcasting system is down we can't access the textbooks. You can probably guess from all the trouble yesterday but this is-"

"Can I explain sir?" A boy with blue hair stands up. He's the class rep, who constantly wants to show off how smart he is. 

"Sure," Mr. Ukyo responds casually. 

The class rep struts up to the front and starts summarizing what he thinks happened. Like with the teachers, Yuma can't understand what he's on about, but unlike with the teachers she doesn't really care about what the class rep says. Yuma's dueled with every one of the students in her classes, and the class rep is no exception. Yuma bets that it would be much more fun if they dueled and the class rep summarizes her loss for what seems like the tenth time. Somehow that thought reminds her of Astral.

"Can't we just duel instead?"

"...Sure. Why not?" The moment Mr. Ukyo agrees almost all of the students jumped out of their seats and cheered.

"Huh?" _Did I say that out loud?_

"Oh Yuma..." Kotori sighs. And she was interested in what the class rep was going to say too.

"Miss Yuma!" The class rep glares at Yuma. He was looking forward to impressing the class and she just had to speak up and ruin it. "Let's duel!"

"Sure!" Yuma never hesitates when someone challenges her. She moves to the back of the room. The other students move to either side of it. Everyone puts on their gazers. 

"Since you beat Shark, if I beat you, will I be better than Shark?" The class rep grins. The students standing on the sides start talking among themselves. Yuma does her best to ignore them this time.

"I won, but I don't think its fair to assume winning against me means being better than Shark."

"What do you mean? Could it be the girl who loses all the time and sucks at studies didn't actually win against Shark?"

"Its true! I saw her beat Shark with my own eyes!" Kotori interjects. The class rep doesn't respect Yuma in the slightest, but he thinks of Kotori as a smart and diligent person, so he trusts her word.

"So why do you think that even if I win I'm not better than Shark?"

"Because..." She reaches for the duel pocket where summons are meant to be kept. Usually its empty, but now...its still empty. The Numbers she had must only appear when Astral's around. She sighs. "Because when I won against Shark neither of us were entirely ourselves that day. If you want to be better than Shark, challenge him yourself!"

"In summary, are you saying I'm a coward because I wouldn't challenge Shark myself?"

"No I don't mean it like-"

"No more words! Let's duel!"

* * *

As expected, the class rep wiped the floor with her. The students around them look disappointed, but also kinda relieved. 

"She's normal again."

"Thank goodness."

"This reality has realigned."

Yuma sighs. She never realized how dependent her classmates are of her being bad at everything. She stands back up to her feet. "Well that was fun!"

"Fun? You lost while I was still at full health," class rep gloats. "Guess it really must have been a fluke that you won. A fool can't hope to win."

"Enough," Mr. Ukyo interjects. "Dueling is a lot like life. It won't always go as planned. You learn more from your mistakes then you do from your successes." Mr. Ukyo casually pick up a card from the class rep's deck. "Like Bugman." He shows the card to the class. "Bugman is an electrical fairy who is as clumsy as they are adorable, but by depending on all their bug friends they grow stronger." His eyes soften as he looks down at the card. "It's said that whoever witnesses their full-moon like appearance will forever live in happiness..."

"Cute," Kotori says. She never duels, but she's especially fond of the fairy and fairy-like duel monsters. Now that she thinks about it Yuma remembers an illustrated book Kotori shared with her that was filled with pictures of fairies. Astral kind of reminds her of one.

"Sir, what does that have to do with anything? That's just made up." The class rep feels cheated. He won, so why isn't he being praised for it?

"Well I happen to believe in this made up story." Mr. Ukyo looks at Yuma. "Yuma, its okay to lose. And its okay that you struggle with math. So long as you keep trying, you're not a fool. So keep at it!"

"Sir..." Yuma's eyes were watering up. Even though she's always on the brink of failing his class, Mr. Ukyo never holds that against her. "You're the best! Can I duel you next?"

"Of course!"

She loses.

Meanwhile the class rep looks down at the empty slot where Bugman was. He won, so why is he being scolded and Yuma praised? To summarize, he doesn't think its fair.

* * *

"Hey Kotori, do you think I'll ever be like Mr. Ukyo?"

"No."

"Why not!?"

"Because I can't imagine you getting a degree in teaching. You hate math."

"I'm not talking about being a teacher! I'm talking about...like...being as cool and nice and smart as he is!"

"Yuma, you're already cool enough for me."

"Awww." Yuma pretends to be flustered, but she couldn't fake the sudden warmth in her cheeks.

"Being smart though...hmmmm..."

"Kotoriiiiiii..."

As Yuma whines at her friend while walking home they spot Akari's car at the side of the road. "'Sup fellow kids," she jokes as she pulls down her sunglasses. "Want a ride?"

"Do we have a choice?" Yuma asks, already knowing the answer.

"No."

Kotori and Yuma get in the back of the car. Apparently the car used to be Dad's, so Akari takes special care of it. She drives...around and back to where the school is. "Why are we going back?"

"Because I need you and Kotori to do me a favor."

"Akari..."

"What? It's not dangerous! You know I'd never put you in danger."

"Yeah but you're roping my friend into doing work again!"

"I don't mind," Kotori intercedes. 

"Yeah she doesn't mind. And I'll treat you two to something expensive afterwards. Promise."

"...So what do you want us to do?"

"I want you to stake out your school library. The computers in it are where I traced the hacker."

"Excuse me!?" Kotori looks appalled. The school library is one of her favorite places. To think it was where the hacker caused all that!

"Yep. My guess is that someone from the faculty used one of the computers after it closed."

"Unbelievable...why a school computer of all places..."

"Like I said, I think it was someone working at the school who did it. It's not the best, but its what they were able to access. A lot of the tech that was hit with this virus shut itself down before it got corrupted, so most of everything is recovered, except..."

"Except your scoop couldn't be recovered?"

"My scoop..." Akari sniffles. "Anyway the point is most of the things that could be hit was guarded against the virus, so the damage wasn't severe...but if the hacker develops a virus that can hit before the servers can defend against it...and the virus begins to target life-sustaining equipment...then its not just going to be my next scoop that's in danger."

Yuma doesn't want to imagine what would happen to the hospital near their home. "Okay, so what do we do when we find the culprit? Can I bite 'em?"

Akari harrumphs. "No, call me and I'll bite them. No wait, I'll chop 'em! They'll pay for stealing my hard-earned work and endangering my city. Hyah!"

* * *

After being dropped off Yuma and Kotori spent the next few hours staking the school library. Kotori is a regular there, but Yuma being in any library is new. As such Yuma had to pretend to read stuff in order not to stand out. She picked a book on fairies and looked at the pretty pictures.

As the library was about to close they finally notice the class rep walking to a computer screen when no one is around. Yuma walks closer to see what he's doing. She still doesn't not know what he's doing while up close, but she suspects its something he's not supposed to do given how suspicious he's acting.

"No," the class rep looked at the screen in horror. "No no no no what have I done!?" He starts typing rapidly. 

"What are you doing?"

"Fuck!" The class rep spins around. "Y-you! What are you doing here!?"

"I'm looking for the hacker so my sister can sucker punch them."

"W-well I...I didn't mean it! They tricked me!"

"Tricked you?" Kotori stands next to the class rep and looks at the screen. "Did the culprit send you the virus?"

"Yes!" The class rep returns to typing rapidly on the screen. "I was just...I was just trying to track the culprit! But then the virus...I ended up launching the virus by mistake!" The class rep started tearing up. "I can't believe it...I can't believe I fucked this up so bad..."

"It's okay!" Yuma puts a hand on his back. Yuma doesn't like it when others touch her back, yet for others a pat on the back is considered comforting, which is why its her first instinct to make others feel better. She finds hugs comforting and the only way she's comfortable with others touching her back, but she doesn't think the class rep is the hugging type. "Are you still tracking him?"

"...Yes." The class rep sounds calmer now. "Found him!"

Yuma calls Akari.

* * *

Akari was busy trying to stop the virus from hitting the servers, so Yuma and Kotori decided to follow the class rep to the tower where the culprit was tracked to. When they reached the room the culprit was hiding in, the door closed behind them.

"S-sir!?" All three of them said the same thing in shock. Sitting above them was their teacher, Mr. Ukyo!

"Welcome! I'm surprised you got here so fast!" Mr. Ukyo smiled, as if he was still in class and not in what looks like an evil lair. "As expected, the class rep finds me. Though I'm surprised Miss Yuma and Miss Kotori also appear."

"You! To summarize you-you-you tricked me! You set me up!" The class rep glares at his teacher, whom he just wanted praise from. "I don't want to go to jail!"

Mr. Ukyo laughs. "Relax! My plan wasn't to send my own student to jail! I just wanted you to see the virus set off firsthand." 

"So that I can be an accomplice!" 

"Mister Class Rep I don't think they can send you to jail. You can't go to jail if you're 13," Yuma tries to calm the boy down.

"But my record! My reputation! Everyone will know I fucked up!" The class rep looks at her with watery eyes. "Maybe you can handle everyone calling you and idiot and a failure, but I can't!"

"..."

Mr. Ukyo takes off his glasses and loosens his tie. "Sorry, I look too formal like this. Now let's all calm down and enjoy the show shall we?" When he loosens his tie a number is revealed on his neck. Number 34.

As they explore the inside of this strange contraption Astral sees the sky flash red. Could it be a Number appearing? As easy as they entered, Astral leaves the inside of the key and sees Yuma, Kotori, and a boy from their class facing one of their teachers.

"There were a few mistakes along the way, but that doesn't matter anymore. This time I'll succeed." Mr. Ukyo grins. "See what happens when you don't give up Yuma?"

"...Are you counting causing other people trouble as those mistakes?" Yuma grimaced. "I admit I get hurt a lot when I make mistakes and brush it off, but when I hurt others I can't just pretend that those mistake won't matter! Being determined and not giving up shouldn't come at the cost of other people's livelihoods!"

"Forget it. He won't listen."

"WOAH!" Yuma staggers. "Y-you're back! When-how-"

"I was inside the key."

"What does that-"

"We need to duel him. He's being controlled by the Number. Once we take his card he'll go back to normal."

"...Alright!" Yuma points at Mr. Ukyo. "My sister was going to deck you, but since you're my teacher I think that'd be awkward. Lets just duel! If I win you have to stop the virus!"

"Deal." Mr. Ukyo grins menacingly.

"K-Kotori...Yuma lost it...she's talking to thin air..."

"Relax. She was talking to thin air when facing Shark, and she won that duel."

"Really?"

"Yep. She thinks there's an invisible alien following her around."

"An alien...aliens don't exist!" The class rep really wants to lay down now.

Kotori just laughs. "Maybe you're right. In that case...maybe they're a fairy?"

* * *

With this, Astral retrieved Number 34 - Computer Beast Terabyte. Their name is Astral, and their world is also called Astral. 

A strange thing Astral noticed while Yuma dueled is that even when she was not taking damage she looked in pain. She explained its because her heart hurts when someone she knows and respects is doing something wrong. She says Grandma hurts in a similar way when Yuma does something wrong. When Astral asked if they were pills that help with pain in the heart the same way pills help the pain in the head, she didn't respond. In regards to her dueling Yuma seems aware that she has to listen to Astral when Numbers are involved, although she acts very displeased when they give her directions. At one point she even suggested she'd do the opposite of whatever Astral told her to do, but thankfully she didn't go through with it. One noticeable thing is that when that blue-haired boy encouraged her, she acted a great deal more positive. Perhaps being praised is a way to boost morale. Astral decides to praise Yuma after they won.

"Yuma, you're constantly hurting yourself, change your attitude dramatically depending on each person, and overall act very odd compared to others around you. You are an interesting person."

"Uh, thank you...?"

"This is a compliment."

"Okay?"

"Does this make you feel better?"

"Um..."

"Excuse me!" The class rep saves Yuma from a very awkward conversation. He approaches her. "I-I'm sorry about what I said earlier. About you being called stupid and a failure." 

"...It's fine! We should wake up Mr. Ukyo though." Yuma rolls up her sleeves.

"Yuma if you punch him you'll be expelled," Kotori says nonchalantly. Yuma unrolls her sleeves.

During the duel Kotori was describing Astral as a "Dueling Fairy" to the boy. Astral somehow feels pleasant when they hear themselves being called that.

Yuma kneels down in front of Mr. Ukyo. "Sir. Siiiiiiiir. Sir? Sir!"

"Ugh..." Mr. Ukyo opens his eyes. "Yuma? W-where am I..." He slowly stands back up.

"How do you stop the virus?"

"Virus?" Something clicks in Mr. Ukyo's mind. "That's right! I wanted to share this with you class rep."

"So I can go to jail."

"What made you think-don't worry, if anyone gets in trouble it'll be me." Ukyo goes to a set of buttons behind him and pushes one. "Like I'd ever want to hurt my students." As he pushes it the floor suddenly moves them upwards.

"But you made a virus..." Yuma tilts her head. "Are you saying the virus wasn't made to hurt anyone?"

"It wasn't supposed to hurt anyone the first time around!" Mr. Ukyo tightens his tie. "All I wanted to do was share something that made people happy. But then...I don't know. Something caused it to go awry. I know that's a vague excuse, but I am really sorry about yesterday." The floor stops moving. They reached the peak of the tower, where they can see the glowing city below. "The least I can do is show you the result. Everyone, put your gazers back on."

When the class rep put his gazer on he gasps. Above the city and facing the tower was Bugman, with bombs in their hands. When they throw the bombs fireworks explode in the sky. They can hear the people below cheering.

"Bugman..." The class rep pulls out his Bugman card. "But its not real..."

"Whoever sees their full-moon like appearance with experience happiness." Yuma smiles, taking the card out of the class rep's hand. "I get it!"

"Get what?" The class rep asks. 

"Mr. Ukyo wanted to share happiness." Yuma gives back his card. "Bugman's not real, but this feeling is, right?"

"...In summary, Mr. Ukyo went through all this to make us happy." The class rep smiles, looking at the fairy in the sky.

Yuma and her friends spent the next hour watching the fireworks display.

Astral wasn't paying attention, only thinking of how the Numbers affect people.

* * *

After the fireworks display Yuma convinced Akari to invite the class rep to eat out with them, since he helped find where the culprit it. They all decided not to say who the culprit was since they didn't want their favorite teacher to lose his job. Akari was dissapointed, but didn't pester them since in the end no one got hurt. Afterwards Yuma returned home and after kissing grandma good night went to the attic. She writes in her diary and is ready to sleep.

"Wait."

"What?" 

"What are those noises you make in your sleep?"

"What noises?"

Astral tries to mimic the noises she makes. Yuma pales. "Are they bad noises?"

"W-well no but...its just snoring." Yuma turns away from Astral, but Astral can just move themselves in front of her.

"What's the point of snoring?"

"I don't think there's a point to it. Its just something you do when you sleep sometimes."

"And what about what you and Akari do sometimes? Before you entered the attic, you pressed your mouth against Grandma's forehead. What does that mean?"

"It's just a goodnight kiss...wait." Yuma sits up. "What do you mean me _and_ Akari? What did Akari do?"

"The same thing you did. A 'goodnight kiss' as you called it."

Yuma gets out of her hammock and grabs her diary. She quickly jots something down, puts it back in her bag, and goes back to the hammock.

"Yuma?"

"Anything else you want?"

"No."

"Goodnight then."

"...Goodnight."

Once Yuma stops "snoring" they enter the key and return to exploring it.

* * *

A few days later Yuma's heading to school and, miracle of miracles, Yuma arrived in time to meet Kotori at the entrance. It's her turn to water the class flowers, but usually Kotori ends up doing it since Yuma always over-waters them. "Morning Kotori!" Tetsuo is already there waiting. 

"What, you're not going to say good morning to me?"

"I just raced you."

"But did you say 'morning' to me in that sugary sweet voice?"

"If you put it that way maybe I don't want to say good morning to you."

"How can a greeting be 'sweet?'"

"Why do ask the most awkward questions?"

"Because I want answers to them."

"Because you wuuuuuv-ow!" Kotori elbows Tetsuo.

"Come on, lets just head inside," Kotori says. For some reason her face is hot. Its hotter than average today.

"Wait." Tetsuo stops Yuma and Kotori before they can take one step. "Can we talk about the alien you're seeing real quick?"

"I prefer 'Dueling Fairy.'"

"They like 'Dueling Fairy' now."

"Dueling Fairy...?"

"Or Astral. I'm Astral from the Astral World. I do like Dueling Fairy as a title."

"Or you can call them Astral. They remember their world now. Its called Astral World. Which sounds real narcissistic if you ask me. Maybe being named after the world is common there."

"...Yuma won again," Kotori says.

"I know. You told me," Tetsuo says.

"I think Astral's real," Kotori says. Truthfully, she's unsure of their existence, but by saying it out loud maybe her thoughts on the matter could be more solid.

"Maybe Astral's like, your conscious." Tetsuo frowns. "Look the fact that you won not once but twice is shocking, but maybe its a part of you that finally understands how to play and not some outside source." Tetsuo puts a hand on her shoulder. "I just think its disingenuous to pin your success on an invisible alien, you know?"

"Fairy."

"...You don't have to believe me. I like that you think my successes are my own though. Maybe if Astral retrieves enough Numbers you'll be able to see them." 

"What are you guys talking about?" A classmate runs up to them. He's shorter than Yuma, with thick glass and a neat hat. "Is it something bad about me?"

"Um, what?" Yuma swears she's never seen this guy before. "Why would I talk bad about someone I don't know?"

This boy...Astral saw him as Yuma was running to take photos of groups of cats for Akari's "scoop." He had a strange look in his eyes when he spotted Yuma. Astral wonders why the boy seems to have such a suspicious air to him.

"Ah, that makes sense." The boy grins. "Of course, whether you talk good or bad about me doesn't matter. Anyway you're Yuma Tsukumo! You beat Shark! That's amazing!"

"I guess." Yuma is getting real tired of people talking about that duel. Its not the fact that she put her heart and soul into the fight, its just the win that seems to matter. Not that her win really belongs to her.

"Hmmmm you won, yet on the flip side you're sad?" The boy cocks his head, still grinning. "But on the flip-flip side, winning against Shark has been a net positive. He hasn't been dueling since you beat him, so no one's losing their deck."

"Wait he hasn't been-?"

"Those duels where people barter their whole decks are real nasty huh? Every single card is precious to a duelist, so its painful to lose even one of them. On the flip side, putting a card on the line for the chance to get a card you reeeeally want can be riveting right?" The boy laughs.

What a menacing laugh. Kotori and Tetsuo seem to sense something is up with this boy as well, given they're both donning a look of cautiousness and unease.

"Yuma lets head for class," Kotori says.

"Yeah lets go," Tetsuo says.

"Hold it!" The boy puts a hand up in a stop signal. "Let me introduce myself. Tokunosuke Omoteura. Outside I'm a regular middle schooler but on the inside...I'm also a regular middle schooler. Quite a harmonious individual don't you agree?"

"...I...I guess?"

"On the flip side, you seem to be an interesting person on the outside and an interesting person on the inside, so you must be quite a harmonious individual as well!"

"Um...thank you?"

"He's good at praising."

"Is he?"

"Is who?"

"As-nothing. Its nice to meet you."

"Likewise!" Tokunosuke pulls out a duel card. "To celebrate our meeting, and your defeat of Shark which again is a net positive, take this XYZ Summon!" He holds it out in front of Yuma. "Baby Tiragon!"

"Really? Are you sure?" Yuma's hand instinctively reaches for the card. If she takes it, she'll have an XYZ monster of her very own! "If you're okay-"

Kotori grabs Yuma's hand before she can take the card. "Yuma! We have to water the flowers!" Before Yuma could complain Kotori and Tetsuo hook their arms around hers and carry her away. Once they're out of sight of Tokunosuke they let go. "Don't trust him. We've seen what he's like since elementary school. He's a notorious liar and is always out for his own gain."

"What would he have to gain by giving me a card?"

"Maybe he's after the Numbers," Tetsuo says.

"Well if that's the case good luck to him! Those cards don't appear in my deck without Astral. See?" She opens the case where the summons would be. As always it has...one card? "Baby Tiragon? When did he-?"

"That son of a-" Tetsuo yanks the card out of the case. "You guys go ahead. I'm giving this back to that trickster." He storms off.

* * *

The rest of the day Tokunosuke kept trying to give her the card, but Kotori and Tetsuo prevented her from taking it. They had activities to do after school, so its just Yuma walking home. They wouldn't let her go until she promised not to take the card. "I don't get what the big deal is. Its just a card."

"He's suspicious."

"How would you know he's suspicious?"

"He has a dark aura."

"You sound like a fortune teller near the candy shop. Are you going to sell me candles to prevent bad spirits as well?" Yuma sighs. "Well, I don't like distrusting people, but I also trust Kotori, so I'll give up on the card. It would have been nice to have a summon of my own though..."

"But you do have XYZ monsters."

"No, YOU have XYZ monsters."

"But we use them together."

Yuma scoffs. "Its not like we're a team when we duel. You just tell me what to do and I do it when your life is one the line. Its not like you'll ever trust me to duel on my own with those Numbers right?"

"Yuma that's not-"

"Whatever. Sorry if that sounds harsh. I'm just tired." Yuma puts her hands behind her head. "It's not like I don't know I suck at dueling."

_..._

* * *

"Yuma. Have you been dueling?" Akari was standing in front of the door, arms crossed.

"N-n-n-no! What makes you say that!? Me? Never!" Yuma stutters. Grandma is enjoying her tea chuckling away. _Don't laugh at my suffering like that!_

"Really? Then whats this?" Akari tosses a letter to her. It says "To the One Who Defeated Shark" on the back.

"U-uh...well..." Yuma thinks for a seconds, asking herself which would be the bigger taboo, then says, "I um...I fought a bully in school." She hold the key. "He's the one who broke my key. So I uh...fought him. With...with my fists." She puts up her dukes. "I know I obviously couldn't duel him with duel monster cards...so I uh...battled him the old fashioned way! Yeah." She start looking for an escape route to her room. "I know it was wrong but-I-"

"Yuma." Akari puts a hand on her shoulder. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"...B-because..." She fumbles with the key. "Because...um! Because you'd get in trouble for punching a middle schooler!"

"...Pfft." Akari removes her hand. "You know there's more ways for me to deal with bullies than with my fists right? I would have called his parents. Or talked with the principal at the school. Or sued his parents if they didn't get their kid in line because that key is probably older than this country." She sighs. "But I can't do anything for you if you don't tell me. So tell me when somethings wrong! You do favors for me, so I can afford to do favors for you. Got it?"

"...Got it."

"Enjoy your fan mail."

Yuma rushes up to her room and into the attic.

* * *

Soon as she got home she took her diary out of her school bag and started writing. 

"Yuma?"

"Hold on. Let me finish writing."

"Can I see?"

"Um, you're not supposed to read other people's diaries. I'm just writing about what happened today, and you were there with me the whole time."

"But you were also there the whole time. Why do you need to write about it?"

"..." Yuma doesn't bother answering until she finishes writing. Closing the diary she holds the latter Akari gave her. "I told you before, its about how it mattered to you, not just what happened. If I- five years down the line, I might feel completely different than I do now."

"That's hard to imagine. Is five years long?" Astral learned the measure of time, but isn't certain on the effect of time on humans yet.

"In five years I'll be an adult. Adults are supposed to have everything figured out, and is...you know, good at stuff. So it feels very far away." Yuma turns the letter round and round in her hand. "Who do you think gave me this? Why now? It's probably more for you than for me."

"It might be from that boy. Tokunosuke."

"Really?" She presses down on the letter hatch to open it, revealing the metal paper and a duel card. "Oh." Its the card Tokunosuke's been trying to give her all day. 

"...You know, most information and gifts seems to be shared through online functions, so why does he not send it through your mobile?"

"I don't keep a mobile at home. I just use my gazer, and you need a number set to send things through it."

"What's your number set?"

"I have it written down somewhere. Anyway this letter-" She points to the blank metal paper. "-I think is based off of something people used to do before. You know paper used to be more like this-" she pulls out her diary and fiddles around with the thin paper to bend it, "-and they put it in these-" she points at the envelope, "which was made from the same stuff, and they give it to people who deliver it no matter how far away they were. Even after you didn't need to use it to send stuff anymore I guess people still wanted to use it. Maybe its more personal?"

"Why is your diary made out of that non-metal paper?"

"Grandma gave it to me. They sell them at antique stores and other old places. By the way, I also got this from the antique store." She holds up a box of pencils which she uses to write in her diary. "Almost everything in this attic is older than me, so I guess it'd make sense that the things I use be old too. Alright enough stalling!" She presses the corner of the metal paper to start the message. A hologram pops out the metal paper showing what appears to be a young girl not showing her face. "That's a cute dress! Tokunosuke has better fashion sense than I do."

* * *

The next day Yuma woke up way too early, and couldn't go back to sleep. She felt she must have dreamed something, but once again she couldn't recall what it was. At least its not the door anymore. She tried helping Grandma make breakfast, which was mainly rice so there wasn't a lot for Yuma to mess up. At least she had time to enjoy it. Even when its simple, Yuma loves Grandma's cooking.

"On our first duel, you had a meal similar to the one you're consuming now. Is this meal especially strong for gaining energy?"

"It's cuz its from grandma that it's so good!" 

Grandma overheard her and laughed, pinching her cheek. "Aren't you a flatterer!"

"No, she's a suck-up," Akari groans. "Why don't you compliment my cooking more?"

"Because you don't cook?"

"Just hurry up and go to school!"

* * *

Yuma decided to wait outside for Tetsuo in order to race him.

"By the way..."

"Yeah?"

"You're not allowed to duel?"

"...! I-well...yeah Akari doesn't want me to duel so...yeah." She fidgets. Where's Tetsuo when she needs him? "I don't get what the big deal is but...yeah. Technically yeah I'm not allowed but-"

"Are you going to be in trouble?"

She huffs. "Not if I'm not caught!"

"...Yuma."

"What?"

"Has anyone...taught you to play duel monsters?"

"I know how to play!"

"But is that because you kept dueling repeatedly until you got the basics yourself, or because someone taught you the basics?"

Somehow Astral's crossed arms became even more pulled together as they moved to be eye level with Yuma. "I-well, I had-I know someone who was a competitor, but I-she can't play at the moment, so I didn't want to ask her." Yuma crosses her arms to show she can be intimidating too. "Look I figured it out! I'm not great, but I got it figured out!"

"Yuma."

"Don't pity me!"

"..."

"Yuma!" Tetsuo flies by her.

 _Oh thank god_. Yuma has an excuse to stop talking and just run. 

_I see. Yuma's bad at dueling not just because she's impulsive and irrational, but because she's inexperienced, and can't practice inside her home. No wonder I never saw her take out her deck even in the attic._ Astral watches her run. They don't have any experience running because their legs don't ever touch the ground, so perhaps they'd be as bad as running as Yuma is at dueling. Humans are meant to learn things, yet Yuma seems incapable of learning, preferring to leap head first into trouble without preparation. Why? Astral wants to conclude that if she listens to them she can improve, but she's never willing to. Perhaps if they complimented her more, she'd be more open.

"You're very good at running."

Yuma trips into a cleaner robot.

"You caught it! That's very impressive."

Yuma can only hear Tetsuo laughing as he hovers further and further away.

* * *

When the school day started Yuma couldn't help but notice almost all of her classmates ignoring her. Sure, she usually doesn't interact with them, but normally her classmates would watch her go through her antics. Today its like they're purposely looking away. Kotori and Tetsuo tell her not to worry about it but its getting on her nerves. Finally after school finishes she goes to the class rep. "Class Rep?"

He drops the mobile he was looking at. "Uh, Yuma." He avoids eye contact.

"...Did I do something to you." Yuma doesn't feel like acting nice now. He's been ignoring her too. The class rep flinches, reaching for the mobile he dropped, but Yuma got to it first.

"Hey!"

Yuma opens it. Inside the mobile is a folder called "Bad Yuma Evidence." Inside the folder is five photos of someone who looks like Yuma cheating and being mean to others. There's also a chat box, which she opens.

* * *

"This isn't real right? If Yuma cheated she wouldn't constantly be on the cusp of failing."

"Well, what if her desk partner is on the cusp of failing as well?"

"Dude, her desk partner is Kotori. She's near the top of the whole school! If Yuma used her to cheat it'd be pretty fucking obvious."

"Yeah, these are photoshopped. You can see the skin on her face doesn't even match the skin on her arms."

"She's not even allowed to do dissections anymore, how would she be able to get a frog?"

"She might be dumb, but she's not a bully."

"They didn't even add that weird necklace! She doesn't even take that thing off while swimming."

"She's not bright enough to pull pranks like this. She's being framed."

"Who the fuck would frame Yuma though? What would they have to gain?"

"Could it be Shark?"

"Shark hasn't been around for a couple of weeks. If he wanted to get back at Yuma he could have done it in like, two hours tops. I don't even think he has a mobile."

"Maybe it was a Shark fan?"

"Who would be a fan of Shark!? That guy was a prick!"

"Sure, but he was a prick who was able to enter an official competition. Call him whatever you want but he is skilled."

"And yet he got beat by the biggest loser in the school."

"Was. He was skilled."

"Maybe Yuma cheated."

"Maybe that's why she doesn't like people talking about it!"

"Who cares if she cheated. Shark probably cheated too! I say serves him right!"

"Nah, to cheat at duel monsters you'd have to be smart enough to trick the other player. Yuma isn't even capable of tricking herself."

"True lol."

"It's not her fault her head's cracked. Did you see what-"

* * *

Yuma's read enough. She gives the class rep his mobile back and walks away. "W-wait Yuma I just wanted to confirm if it was real or not!"

"And you didn't think to ask me?" She turns back. "Or what, am I too dumb enough to explain myself?"

The class rep continues to avoid eye contact. "That's not it!"

"Did you think I actually did this stuff." It wasn't a question. 

"I..."

"Or did you think I'm too stupid to do anything like that."

"I'm sorry! I just-"

"Why didn't you just confront me? Did you...is it because you felt bad for me? You looked me up and now you think I'm just a broken idiot."

"That's taken it too-Yuma just listen-"

Yuma turns around again. "I don't feel like listening!" She starts walking away. "It's not like you treat me any differently than they do. Seeing Bugman was great, but its not like we became friends. And you don't seem to want to anyway."

"Yuma!"

She keeps walking.

* * *

Instead of going to the duel park at school Yuma decides to try out the mall, since she's really annoyed at her classmates. But by the time she got there, she just didn't feel like dueling anyone. She just sat on a bench and sighed. "What a crummy day..."

"...Broken."

"Hm?"

"What did you mean by 'broken?'"

"..."

"Yuma?"

"Agh, fine! Here," she rolls up her left sleeve to show scarring on the back of her shoulder. "I fell off a cliff when I was little and ended up in the hospital."

"You're broken because you fell off a cliff?"

"Well I'm not broken anymore! I healed, and these scars are proof of that." She pulls down the sleeve. "And its not me that broke, it was my body. There's a difference." She rubs the back of her head. "Not that it matters to anyone who looks it up. Someone took a photo of me after I fell, and it always freaks people out when they discover it. Akari complains that she keeps trying to get it removed but people save it because 'they have gross taste.'" She hunches down. "They call me an idiot and a loser and a failure and usually I could care less, but its like they only stop calling me that after they realize I had a few broken bones once. Like pity is all it takes for them to start treating me decently!" She straightens her back and digs her nails into her knees. "It was like with Shark! He broke my key and made me upset but then he must have looked up the incident! That's why he gave Tetsuo back his deck! That-that jerk! What gave him the right to pity me! What right does anyone have to pity me! It's like I try and try and try and they don't even care! They just make up stories about me being possessed or whatever whenever I make even the slightest improvement!" Her eyes start to water. "Why can't-why can't I-"

"Yuma."

Yuma looks at Astral, who was pretending to sit next to her while looking at her dead in the eyes. She could never read their face, but now that was a comfort. She couldn't stand it if the being who hovers around her almost all the time treated her like the broken little girl the way others treat her. Still, realizing that Astral was listening to her almost break down caused her to quickly rub her eyes. "A-anyway! It's not like I care. I don't care what they think! I'm not giving up! Whether they think I'm mean, dumb or broken, I won't let that stop me from trying my best!"

"That's the spirit!"

"WAH!" Yuma leaps out the bench. In front of her is Tokunosuke, clapping.

"That was an excellent jump!" Tokunosuke walks toward her. "Who knew I'd see you here! Are you looking to duel people?"

"..." Yuma pulls out the Baby Tiragon. "Here's your card back! Thanks for the fan letter but I really can't except it."

"Uh! What-what letter?" Tokunosuke is taken aback. How was he discovered so easily? He assumed Yuma was easy to fool, but perhaps her friends had prepared for this and warned her. He knew he shouldn't have tricked Kotori into giving him her favorite fairy-themed lunch box back in elementary school. "Well, wow! Someone gave you the same card I was going to give you! What a coincidence." Luckily he was prepared. He pulls out a copy of the card from his pocket. "On the flip-side, I'm sad you didn't accept my Baby Tiragon."

"That's a fake card."

"Tokunosuke." She crosses her arms. "Why are you so desperate to give me this card?"

"...! W-well." This is bad, this is bad! Tokunosuke couldn't have predicted that Yuma would be able to catch on to his act without her friends present. "I just, I think it suits you!"

"It suits me?"

"Yeah!" He puts away the fake card and takes the real one from Yuma's hand. "Baby Tiragon may appear weak and something to be pitied, but on the flip side there's more to him than people realize!" He stands closer to Yuma's side. "You appear weak, but on the flip side you're actually really strong! I saw it when you dueled Shark!"

"You saw us duel?"

"Yeah! I saw how you summoned that really powerful monster! It was...it was..." Tokunosuke crosses his arms closing eyes shut, as if he's trying to remember something. "What was it called? I never saw that card being used before..."

"Aspiring Emperor Hope," Yuma sighs. So he was interested in the Numbers after all. "I'm sorry. It's not actually mine. It belongs to an...acquaintance of mine."

"An acquaintance?"

"Yep. So I can't show it to you."

"Ah don't worry about it don't worry about it!" Tokunosuke only needed to know the name. He's about to pat Yuma on the back with the piece of paper declaring an ante deal when Yuma moved away at the last second.

"Sorry! I don't really like it when people pat me on the back. But I can pat you on the back!" She pats him on the back graciously. 

"T-thank you?" Tokunosuke called her an interesting person on the outside and inside as a means of flattery, but he's starting to find truth in these words. He looked up Yuma's history and that horrific accident, yet she still tries to pull physical stunts like almost drowning in the pool and crashing into walls. She always loses, but she never stops trying the same thing, not even attempting to approach things alternatively or deceitfully, which Tokunosuke learned to do with finesse. She's considered one of the least intelligent students in the whole school, and yet she still manages to scrape by and can even be observant sometimes! Tokunosuke's only goal was to trick Yuma into giving away the card that defeated Shark, but he never expected Yuma to be so odd. She appears simple on the outside, yet not so simple on the inside. Far less harmonious in that sense.

"Hey I feel bad that I can't show you the card, but if you really think I'm strong, do you want to duel me?"

Wait wait wait! His plan isn't complete yet! "That'd be awesome! I just, I think you're way stronger than me, since you beat-"

"That doesn't matter! I don't want to duel you because I want to beat someone, I want to duel you because I want to know more about you."

"...Ummm...Aha!" He holds out the card again. "I'll duel with you, but only if you use Baby Tiragon. That way you'll understand there's more to this card than meets the eyes!"

"Deal!" In the end, she still accepts it.

"Wait, I don't trust him."

"I don't either, but that won't stop me from dueling him. It's fine, he doesn't have a Number."

Tokunosuke was about to ask who she's talking to, but he bites his own tongue and quickly takes the opportunity to put the agreement in her bag. He then takes a few steps back before calling her. "Yuma? Who are you talking to?"

"A ghost."

"I prefer fairy."

"A ghost that wants to be a fairy."

"...Uh..." Tokunosuke almost feels bad for tricking this girl, but to show pity would both be insulting her and get in the way of his goal. "W-what's their name?" Better to go along with it.

"As-"

"Don't tell him my name."

"Never mind! Let's just duel already."

* * *

One duel later, Yuma did in fact realize that there was more to Baby Tiragon than meets the eye. She also apologized profusely for almost getting Astral in trouble.

"I didn't think he'd be able to take the Numbers!"

"It's fine. You won. Thank you." Astral wasn't able to see the entirety of the fight, but Yuma was able to recover on her own. Astral assumed she needed guidance before improving, but perhaps just by experiencing more duels she'll adapt. She's not quite ready to listen to Astral, and Astral's not quite ready yet to entrust duels to her, but this can change. They're sure of it.

Yuma's heart seems to do a bunny hop when the being showed appreciation to her for the first time and she immediately feels embarrassed. "I-Whatever! I'd feel bad if I lost yo-if you disappear because of me! The least I can do. No big deal." She runs up to Tokunosuke, who's still on the ground after losing. "That was really exciting!"

"I...wh-what?" Tokunosuke gloated about how he tricked her during the duel. How could she say it was exciting?

"Here's your card back." She holds out Baby Tiragon. "You were right. There's more than Baby Tiragon. I really liked using it!"

"...B-but I...I tricked you with it..." Tokunosuke stands up, still not taking the card. "I...what's...why?"

"Why what?"

"Why aren't you upset with me?"

"Because it doesn't matter."

"Doesn't-?"

"How I feel about people as people and how I feel about duelists as duelists are two different things. It's true that I'm a bit upset that you framed me for all that stuff, but its not like my classmates don't say those things about me anyway. Kotori and Tetsuo are more important to me and they didn't even consider it for a second, so I'm fine with it now."

"That's..."

"And sure, you did use Baby Tiragon to trick me, and tried to get me into an ante duel, but that doesn't change the fact that you're really, really fun when it comes to dueling." She grins. "I mean, I didn't think you could use duel monsters that way! You're so smart! If you didn't take the Numbers which mess with your head, you could have won in a landslide!"

"No I..." What does the Numbers have to do with him losing? Yuma was the one who turned around the duel. And why is she complimenting him?

"And the way you used those Flip Effect Monsters? I didn't even think they could be used that way! Maybe I'm not that bright, but I can tell that you're amazing when it comes to dueling. I bet you could even beat Shark!" She holds out the card again. "But you don't need to use Baby Tiragon to trick people. You used it to fool me, but then I used it to turn the tides. I just think its better to use it yourself."

Finally Tokunosuke takes the card with shaky hands. "Why..." He tries to read Yuma's expression. He saw her being upset and almost scary before he approached her twenty minutes ago, but that's all gone now. Not only that, she genuinely looks...joyful? She has such a bright smile despite being treated so badly by him. Shouldn't she be mad at him? Shouldn't she want revenge? Shouldn't she gloat about her win? "Why...why are you telling me this? Is this a trick? Do you want something from me?" He pulls out his deck. "It-it's because of the ante duel right? You want to pick a card out of my deck?"

Yuma laughs. "No, I don't think I'd be able to use Flip Effect Monsters the way you use them." She puts a hand on his shoulder. "But if its something I want from you, can I play with you again?"

"Can I play..." Tokunosuke felt there must be something wrong with his glasses, because his vision is suddenly becoming blurry. "You...you think I'm fun to play with? You don't think I'm a horrible person? You think I'm smart?"

"Didn't I just say that?" Something in Tokunosuke's teary expression made her want to hug him. She holds out her hands. "I don't like being pat on the back, but I'm a good hugger. Do you want one?"

"I..." Tokunosuke doesn't know how, but he ends up in Yuma's arms, crying. "You...I thought you were easy to fool but on the flip side you're...you're really good! I'm sorry!"

Astral doesn't know how to gauge this situation. In the duel Tokunosuke revealed something: humans can have dark thoughts and hidden sides to them, which is amplified by the Numbers. Yet now he looks so innocent when "hugging" Yuma. How can humans be so cruel and yet still be capable of acting so kind? Like with Baby Tiragon, there's more to humans than meets the eye, including Tokunosuke. Including Yuma.

"Yuma!" Kotori runs up to her. "I found out who-" She pauses when she sees the culprit weeping in Yuma's arms. "Um."

"Oh Kotori! You missed the duel. Tokunosuke's a really good duelist!"

"WAAAAAGH!!!" Tokunosuke can't take being treated so kindly after spending all his life being fooled or fooling others.

"...Okay." Since Yuma likes Tokunosuke, she'll let it slide. For now.

* * *

After parting with a teary eyed Tokunosuke, who offered her back the Baby Tiragon as a token of friendship, Yuma and Kotori walked home together.

"The class rep wanted to say sorry."

"Yeah? What for?" Yuma feels like she should be the one saying sorry. She shouldn't have snapped at him for what her classmates were saying about her. She wishes she could be forgiving and kind right away, instead of only after she says or does hurtful things.

"There's a chat box our class uses. They were discussing why we all got the fake photos, but then they started getting out of line and...anyway the class rep told them off. He says he should have done that sooner, and he's sorry that...you know why don't you add him to your gazer and call him?" She pulls out her mobile. "He gave me permission to share his number if that's okay with you."

"..."

Kotori sighs. "Look, I know he looked down on you in the past, so I don't blame you for not wanting to try to be friends with him, but I think he genuinely want to know more about you. Unlike the rest of your classmates who make weird stories about you."

"...Okay. Send me his number." Yuma pulls out her gazer and puts it in phone mood, and she receives his phone number she texts him.

"Sorry for snapping. Do you want to duel tomorrow after school?"

Just as Yuma reaches her front door step she gets a reply. "Sure :)"

* * *

After writing in her diary Yuma usually goes to sleep, but this time she pulls out a strange box. "What's that?"

"It's an old tv. It's like the big screens at school? It doesn't do much, but it can still air shows. There's this dueling show my friend likes that's going to get a new episode next week, so I'm pulling it out to remind me." She brushes it off. "I might need to clean it." She opens the back of it. "It looks...workable? I guess?"

"Wait!"

"Hm?"

"Can you plug it in with the back open?"

"Uh, sure?" She untangles the wire and plugs it into the only outlet in the attic.

"There's light flickering inside it. Does that mean its working?"

"Let me try." She pushes the power button and it flicks on. It's a news program Akari works with sometimes, talking about how local cat sightings are getting a lot more common. One of the anchors has a little kitty in their arms. Cute. She starts flipping to the channel airing her friend's favorite show. 

"Hm. Its not the same."

"As what?"

"Inside the key is a contraption. Within the contraption is a dense fog, making it difficult to see. However with the Numbers, I'm able to cause parts of the contraption to move. I don't understand what the point of it is yet, but perhaps the Numbers are like a power source?"

Yuma turns the tv off and closes the back of it. "I thought the Numbers were your memories?"

"I thought so as well, but perhaps the Numbers had another purpose. I just need to know what..."

"Hmm...maybe its like...hmmmm...oh!" She reaches for the old clock on the wall. "See these cogs inside? Grandma says they're what makes the clock work." She points to the hands of the clock. "See? The cogs make the hands turn. Maybe the Numbers are used to power whatever it is inside the key?" Yuma still remembers what the door told her. Whoever opens it will be given power, at the cost of something they love...maybe it was actually Astral who has that power, and their memories were the cost. 

"Cogs...yes that's it! The contraption look like a combination of cogs, and by using the Numbers I can cause the cogs to move! So the Numbers power the cogs, which move for a purpose." Astral puts a hand to their chin. "But what's the purpose of the cogs then? What's the contraption going to do once all the cogs move?"

"Well, beats me! Maybe it'll tell the time too?" She hangs the clock back up on the wall and jumps into her hammock. "You'll probably figure it out when you get more of your memories back. No point worrying about it now. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Astral doesn't see the point in exploring the key without new Numbers, so they decide to observe Yuma as she starts snoring, then goes still. She looks so calm, a complete contradiction to how she is when she's awake. _I wonder if I'm able to sleep as well?_ Astral doesn't have a hammock to lie on, so they float parallel to Yuma a couple feet away and close their eyes.

As Astral acts out sleep next to Yuma, neither of them notice the cat on the rooftop, looking at Yuma through the attic window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good grief I made this chapter way too long and its going to probably get even longer from here on out. I tried squeezing Cathy into this chapter (since she fits with Yuma's regular friend group more than Robin does) but I felt that this chapter was already longer than it should be considering that most of it is just table dressing for later parts. I probably could just summarize (heh heh) these parts of the story, but that's just not how I write. Honestly this would probably be easier to read in a light novel or script format, but I have no practice in making light novels or script-writing, so here we are...I say "we" but I'm not sure if anyone is here reading this. If you are, wow! That's wonderful! Hope you stick around!


	4. Of Birds and Felines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know in hindsight, I probably should have bothered to describe Yuma, since she has the most changes in this version for obvious reasons. To be fair she's not that different from her original counterpart. I added some description of this Yuma in chapter 2. All you really know about her in this version is that she's dark-skinned, wears a long sleeve jacket instead of a vest, the black strands are in pigtails, and the hot pink strands are twice as long, reaching the back of her head. I always imagined Yuma as being dark-skinned in the original, but I think that's because he's the only Yugioh protagonist who actually has any pigment in his skin. But this is my fic so if I want Yuma to be dark-skinned than darn it she's dark-skinned! On with the show!

"Last time, on Different Dimensions ESPer Robin-!"

_...! Different Dimension!?_

Astral is staring at the screen with such wide eyes. They look almost endearing now. Yuma didn't realize that an alien...or a fairy...or whatever Astral really is, would be engrossed in a tv show. _Well, its weird that an alien or whatever would be a duelist so..._ Yuma's laying down on the floor with a blanket and her legs kicking at the air, waiting for the recap and opening. She likes her little old tv, but since she lost the remote she can't skip anything.

"Robin's friends have located Galaxy Queen's lair, but after discovering a dark secret they decided to attempt to defeat the Galaxy Queen themselves. Now they're at the mercy of the cruel servant of the King of Darkness! Will ESPer Robin cross dimensions in time to save his friends!?"

"Yuma, what do they mean by different dimensions?"

"Uh...like...worlds I guess? I mean, its the same world, but split into different worlds with different people? I mean...like Robin! Robin lived in the world where everything is peaceful, but his friends live in the world where the Kind of Darkness is a threat. That's why Robin becomes the Different Dimensions ESPer Robin, so that he can bring all dimensions to peace."

"What's ESPer then?"

"No idea."

"Oh no! Why did my friends try to fight Galaxy Queen on their own!? They know how powerful she is!" The masked boy on the tv put his head in his hands in grief. Then he stands straight, ready to use his life force to open the dimension portal. "No, I can't think about that now! After all we've been through, after all that they've done for me, I have to believe in them. Galeruda, Puman...hold on guys!" The portal opens. "First, I need to find out which dimension my friends and the Galaxy Queen are in." He jumps into it.

"Do you think he went to my world?"

"Huh?"

"You said a dimension is like a world. So he could travel to mine." Astral crosses their legs and pretends to sit next to Yuma. "If so I want to meet him."

"...Astral."

"Yes?"

"Robin's not real. He's a character."

Astral looks at Robin as he travels from dimension to dimension, desperately searching for his friends. "What do you mean 'not real?' He's right there." Astral points at the screen. "See? He's real."

"The actor playing Robin is real, but Robin doesn't exist."

"But Robin's right there-oh!"

The scene transitions to Robin's friends facing off the evil queen.

"Are those his friends?"

"Yep."

"So Robin isn't real, but his friends are? Do they know? Is that the dark secret they talked about?"

"No! None of this show is real! It's a show!"

"Yuma, I know those humans are actually there, even if its behind a screen. Like the news."

"This isn't like the news! It's a live-action show! They're acting!" Yuma pushes herself off the floor and pulls her deck case out of her bag and grabs Baby Tiragon. "Look, its like Baby Tiragon. It's used in duels, but its not real in real life!"

Astral looks at Yuma incredulously. "Yuma, you just used Baby Tiragon last week! Of course its real!" Astral crosses their arms. "Don't insult your cards by suggesting they're not real. They should matter to you more than that."

"I-well-AGH-forget it!"

"Forget what?"

"Never mind! Let me watch the show!"

"It can't be!? Mother!" While Yuma was failing to explain the difference between live-action and reality Robin successfully reached the dimension his friends and the Galaxy Queen were fighting in. He was about to punch Galaxy Queen when he realized the dark secret his friends discovered before him. Galaxy Queen was once the benevolent ruler of Robin's dimension, and his own birth mother. They were separated when Robin was little, and on his journey Robin has always hoped that he'd cross paths with her. 

"What's a mother?"

"..."

"Yuma?"

"Fool! Now you and your friends will join me in serving our great lord, the Kind of Darkness!" As Robin was distracted Galaxy Queen used her power to force Robin and his friends to bow, ready to insert the King of Darkness's dark influence into their mind. "MWAHAHAHA!"

"Will Robin and his friends save themselves from Galaxy Queen? How will Robin bring himself to fight his beloved mother whom everyone but him thought to be dead? Find out next time on-!"

Click. Yuma turns the tv off and crawls into her hammock.

"W-wait! Why did you turn it off? What's going to happen to Robin!?"

"Episode finished. New one comes out next week." Yuma's eyes unintentionally reach for the photo on the windowsill, before she forces them closed.

"...Yuma?" She didn't even say goodnight. Astral's left to stare at the black screen where Robin was about to be brainwashed, when they hear a strange sound coming from the window.

"Merp."

"Merp?" Its...a cat? Astral remembers Yuma having to take photos of the creatures for Akari. They're small compared to human, and uses four legs instead of two, but they're also able to reach higher places than humans without the assistance of structural supports such as stairs or ladders. Astral's aware that the cat couldn't possibly be able to see them, but something in the cat's eyes unnerves them. _What is it doing on Yuma's roof?_ The cat couldn't see Astral, so they must be looking at Yuma.

"Merp."

After one final merp the cat turns around and seemingly walks off the roof. Astral wishes they could follow it to discover what its purpose was, but then his eyes fixate on the black tv screen again, concerned over Robin's fate. 

* * *

The next day Astral wouldn't stop pestering her at school about Robin. It'd be cute if Astral didn't think it was all real, no matter how many ways Yuma tried to explain. Once school ended Yuma waved goodbye to the class rep and bolted out the classroom. _Duel time duel time duel-_

"Let's meet Robin."

"No!" Yuma's enthusiasm crashes before it can even set sail. "Robin's not real! And besides, the actor who plays Robin isn't even in the area-"

"Yuma!" Kotori ran to her squealing. "He is! He's in our area! They're shooting footage by the shoreline!" Kotori's a big fan of Robin. When Yuma asked why, Kotori replied that its because he's named after her favorite bird, very handsome, and that he reminds her of Yuma. Yuma doesn't understand the bird and handsome part, but felt a little flustered at the idea that Kotori likes something because of Yuma. 

"Your friend's a fan of Robin right?" Tetsuo follows behind Kotori. "Let's check it out! Maybe we could get an autograph for her."

"Yeah! Yeah! Let's go see Robin. For your friend, I mean." Kotori can't hold her excitement. Yuma adores it when Kotori gets excited about things, because usually she's so calm and collected, but also she doesn't really want to spend all day looking for a guy they probably won't even meet 

"Yuma. I would also like to see Robin. For your friend." Robin is a dimension traveler. Its a long shot, but some part of Astral hopes that they've somehow met before, and that he could give them clues to their old memories.

"Since when have you learned to be sarcastic?" 

"Enough stalling." Kotori grabs Yuma's hand and started walking. "Let's go!"

Now that Kotori was holding Yuma's hand there's no way Yuma could back out now. She can hear Tetsuo chortling from behind her. Duel time is just a distant memory to be washed by the tides...

None of them notice the silver-haired girl staring at Yuma as she's guided out of the building by Kotori.

* * *

At the building where Robin was going to be acting in was surrounded by fans already. Even Yuma could predict this, but Kotori doesn't seem to mind. She seems to adsorb the enthusiasm of all the fans around her. Yuma wonders why she's not absorbing the enthusiasm too. Maybe its because despite all her friends liking the show, she's not a big fan of it. It's so melodramatic and despite her friend saying it had dueling she hasn't seen Robin duel once. There's duel monsters based off of the characters and enemies in the show though, so maybe that's why it's call a dueling show. She just feels a bit mislead.

"Robiiiin! Woo!" Kotori looked ready to fly.

_Well at least I get to see Kotori happy._

"Yuma, we need to see Robin. How do we reach him?"

"Not gonna happen. We'll probably be here all day and not get a glimpse of him-ow! Kotori!" Kotori pinches Yuma's cheek.

"Since when were you such a pessimist? Aren't you someone who never gives up?" Kotori clasps her hands together. "I bet if you tried hard enough, you'd be able to meet Robin right? Right!?"

"No way. Yuma couldn't possibly do it. Impossible." Tetsuo shakes his head dramatically. "You should just...give up."

"HEY!" Yuma can't stand for the idea of giving up on anything, even if its to meet an idol she's not even that big a fan of. "Who said I'm giving up!" She looks at Kotori with determination. "Just you wait! We'll definitely meet Robin!"

"Right! Now yell his name! Rooooobin!"

"ROOOOOOBIIIIIIIIIIN!"

Kotori and Yuma proceeded to take turns crying out Robin's name. Is this how they can summon Robin? Astral's aware he probably won't hear them but..."ROOOOBIIIIN!!!"

Even Astral joined in yelling out his name. Tetsuo just laughs.

"Tsk tsk. Yuma, there's a different way to meet Robin you know."

"ROB-Tokunosuke? You a fan of Robin?"

Tokunosuke blushes. "Wh-what? D-doesn't matter! More importantly..." He twirls his neat hat. "Since I'm your very good and very clever friend, I decided to help you with this rendezvous. Follow me!"

Tokunosuke leads them to the back entrance, where nobody's there except a guard. Tokunosuke's plan was to pretend to be a guard taking over the real guard's shift to sneak Yuma and her friends in. Yuma thinks he's a very impressive actor, and it would have worked if Tokunosuke wasn't twelve. Even so, while the guard was distracted, Kotori took the opportunity to sneak pass them, with Yuma and Tetsuo following behind.

Inside the building Kotori managed to find the stage where Robin was practicing. "Okay, now's our chance." Kotori pats Yuma's shoulder. "Go!"

"And do what?"

"Ask for his autograph!"

"Why me?"

Kotori blushes. "B-because I'm too shy to."

"You weren't shy when you didn't even hesitate to rush in here," Tetsuo says.

"Hush!"

"Dead Max! I won't let you control Mother ever again! Take that!" Robin was practicing his lines with a whip in his hands.

"Dead Max..."

"That's the King of Darkness."

"I see...if he's Robin's enemy, then he must be my enemy too...Agh! Yuma look out!" Astral points to the monster behind Yuma.

"Hm?" Yuma turns around and sees a costume for one of Dead Max's henchman. "Relax, its not real." Yuma pushes the costume. She hears a mechanical sound and the costume starts moving. "AGH!" She grabs the costume, but instead of keeping the costume down she's dragged into the air with it. "NONONONONONONONO!"

"Yuma! I didn't know you could fly."

 _I don't want to fall. I really don't want to fall. If I fall I'll...I'll...!_ The string attached to the costume snaps with Yuma's added weight, and against her wishes Yuma falls.

Down...

Down...

Down...

Before Yuma hits the ground, Robin swoops in and catches her.

* * *

"Y-Yuma? Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

"Uh...huh?" Yuma blinks a few times before she can recognize the situation. Standing in front of her is Robin, the actor who plays the Different Dimension ESPer. She looks around. The pink room is filled with flowers and photos of Robin. "Um, you're...Robin?"

"Um!" Robin coughs, then poses. "Correct! Different Dimension ESPer Robin, preparing for the banquet of justice!" He does an elegant bow. "At your service miss!"

"Oh...thanks." Yuma gets out of the chair she was placed in and stretches. Then she remembers how she got there. "Wait! Did...did you catch me? When I fell?"

"I-well..."

"He did." After Robin caught Yuma before she crashed, Kotori and Tetsuo ran up to check on her. Kotori was relieved to see Yuma unharmed and enamored with Robin's saving of her. Unfortunately the guard found them, but while the guard concentrated on Yuma's friends for some reason Robin decided to carry Yuma away into this room. Despite Yuma's insistence that Robin is not real, him being there in the flesh and heroically saving Yuma is obvious proof of his existence. However it doesn't appear that Robin can see or hear Astral, which causes Astral to feel a sensation they can't describe. What did Yuma call it? A pain in the heart...

"...Wow!" Yuma put her hands on Robin's shoulders. "I...I don't know what to say! Thank you!" She doesn't know how else to express her gratitude than to smile. She'd hug him, but since he's a celebrity he might not be comfortable with that. 

"O-oh...I mean, of course! That's what I do!" Robin backs away and picks up Yuma's deck case from a table. "This fell out of your bag while you were in the air. Here you go."

"Thanks...again!" She takes the case. She stares at Robin for a moment, before saying, "You know, I'm not that much of a fan of your show-"

"You're not!?"

"-but I never would have expected that the actor playing Robin would be so nice!" Yuma scratches the back of her head. "I know this sounds weird, but uh, I get the feeling you're really fun to play with. Do you want to duel me? If you're not too busy."

"Ah!" She asked him to duel before Robin could ask her. "Of course! Let us participate in the banquet of justice through duel!"

"Um, sure?" _I guess even when he's not in the show he has to stay in character._

"Yuma. Ask him if he knows me."

"I've told you a thousand times today...ugh fine! Hey Robin, do you know As...tral? Robin?" She turned away for a second and he disappeared. "Where'd he go?"

"Under the table."

"Huh?" She checks under the table. There Robin is, huddled down and shivering. "Wh-what's wrong?"

"S-s-s-s-s-spider."

"Spider?"

"SPIDER! Right in front of me!"

"Hm?" She looks around and sees a spider hanging from a thread in the middle of the room. "Oh! You were right in front of me and I didn't even notice!" She pulls the diary out of her bag and tears out a blank page from the back of it. She places the page under the spider. "I'm guessing this thread's stronger than the string that lifted me up in the air huh? Lucky." The spider lands on the page. She was about to ask Astral to open the window but then remembered they're incorporeal, so she, as gentle as she could without disturbing the spider, walked to the window and opened it herself. She then placed the page with the spider out the window and blew the spider harmlessly away. "Good luck on your new home!" She then crumbled up the piece of paper and put it in the trashcan, and walked back to Robin.

"Amazing. You took more care handling that spider than you do with anything else."

"Shut up!"

"That was a compliment."

"Hmph!" She decides to ignore Astral as she crouches down next to Robin. "It's gone now."

Robin stays under the table for what feels like a century before he finally crawls out. "S-sorry..."

"For what?"

"For being a coward..." He takes off the mask and flattens out his hair. "I'm sick of this...its all a fantasy. I'm nothing like the Robin on tv. I can't even stand spiders. Nobody...is ever going to truly understand me..." He looks toward Yuma with sullen eyes. "Sorry that I'm such a disappointment."

"...U-um..." Now Yuma really wants to hug Robin, but she restrains herself by giving him a hard pat on the back.

"Ow!"

"Sorry sorry! I just...I guess I'm not that good at comforting people. What do you mean by disappointment?"

"Huh? That...that I'm nothing like Robin."

"Didn't I just say I'm not a big fan of the show? I don't really care about Robin. I mean! I like you, but that's because you're so nice. And when you saved me from falling, you just can't act that!" 

"Yuma..."

"As for being afraid of spiders, that's fine too! Everyone's afraid of something! You saw how I reacted while up in the sky, so you know I'm afraid of things too."

"Being afraid of falling and being afraid of tiny bugs are too different things..."

"Maybe so, but being afraid of small things doesn't take away from being able to do big things right?" She crosses her arms. "You might be scared of spiders, but you weren't scared to rush in and catch me right?"

"W-well..." Robin scratches his cheek. "I was scared back then too..."

"And yet you still did it!" Yuma grabs Robin's hand with both of hers. "Stop trying to make yourself out to be a coward. Its like when I make myself out to be dumb. It doesn't help! You'll just be stuck there frozen, unable to move forward!" Yuma looks down. "I'm not just scared of falling. I'm scared of lots of things! But above all, the thing I'm scared of most is standing still, so even if I'm terrified, I gotta move forward! Its the same for everyone I think. So don't give up, because giving up is ten times worse then being afraid of spiders!"

"..." Just as Yuma is about to release Robin's hand, Robin puts his free hand over hers. "C-can we be friends?"

"Sure!"

"Really!?" Robin squeezes her hand in excitement. "M-my name's Fuya Okudaira."

"Fuya?"

"Yuma Tsukumo. It's nice to meet you!"

"He already knew your name."

"Huh?"

"Do you still want to duel with me?" Robin looks at her expectantly. _I'll just ask later._

"Of course!"

"Robin!" While they were talking the door slid open and a woman entered the room. Fuya yanks his hands away from Yuma's. She looks really familiar..."Who's kid is this? How'd you get..." She pauses, then strides up in front of Fuya. "Didn't I tell you not to talk to people outside the production? You have an image to protect! Why did you take your mask off?"

"Um, mother..."

"...!"

"Mother...that's Galaxy Queen!"

"Galaxy Queen?"

Fuya's mom turns to look at her. "I am. I have the honor to be both a prominent actress in the show and Robin's manager."

"And you're also Fuya's mom..." Yuma can't help but stare at her. 

"And I'm very proud of that fact." Fuya's mom looks at Fuya with disappointment. "If only Robin could understand that he can't just keep revealing himself to fans and ruining Robin's image."

"I'm not really a fan though..."

"Hah!?"

"I just want to be friends with Fuya!" Yuma's eyebrows furrow. "Why do you keep calling Fuya Robin? Aren't you the one who named him Fuya? What does it matter that he doesn't keep his image! No one's around but me!"

"And me."

"I'm calling him Robin because he's in the costume!" Fuya's mom sighs. "You wouldn't understand. All this is for his future. Please leave." 

She walks behind Yuma and put her hands on her back, causing Yuma to scream, "DON'T!"

Fuya's mom stagger back. "I..."

Yuma doesn't feel safe at this moment. She grabs Fuya hand and squeezes it for a second. "I'm sorry, I don't think I can duel like this. But lets meet again! Remember what I said! Don't give up!" Then she bolts out of the room, leaving Fuya and his mom behind.

"Honestly...I..." Fuya's mom sighs again. "I didn't think...no, I suppose I was in the wrong, given what she's been through." She puts a hand on Robin's shoulder. "I understand that you want friends, but right now Robin's image is what matters most. You can think about making friends after your show finishes airing...go back to rehearsal now. When we finish recording I'll buy your favorite dessert, okay?"

"Yes, Mother..." As Fuya's mother leaves the room Fuya recalls what Yuma says about not giving up. But Fuya doesn't see a way of escaping this life...no one can save him from this. The world wants him to be Robin. His own mom wants him to be Robin. So what choice does he have...Fuya could never be brave like Robin and Yuma are.

* * *

"Being an actor SUCKS!" Yuma shakes herself as she slows down and pauses at the bridge. She looks down at the sea below. "What kind of mom doesn't even call her kid by their own name? What the fuck! So mean!"

"But isn't his name Robin? Why is he Fuya-"

"BECAUSE HE'S NOT ROBIN! HE'S FUYA! FUYA PLAYS ROBIN!"

"...So Robin...is only a fantasy...I see. So Fuya is real, but Robin isn't..."

"..." Yuma immediately regrets snapping at Astral, like she always regrets snapping at others. It doesn't help that Astral's face is visibly distressed, when usually their face is unreadable. "Um...I'm sorry that you got your hopes up like that." Yuma wishes that she could just pat them, but obviously that's not an option here. "Uh...c-cheer up! You'll keep getting your memories so long as you get the Numbers right? Just be patient! We'll find them!"

"..."

"Uuuuum..."

"What is this feeling?"

"Feeling?"

"What am I feeling right now?"

"...I can't tell what others are feeling. Can you describe it in more detail?"

"...It's like...I don't know anyone who knew who I was, and there's no one I know who's like me...and that nags at my mind. You called me an alien when we first met, and I heard the word 'alien' meant someone who doesn't belong in this world. Even though perhaps 'alien' is an accurate way to describe me, I don't like it. I don't want to be an existence that isn't meant to be here."

"...I...had no idea you felt this way."

"What is this feeling called?"

"I guess...loneliness?"

"Loneliness...do you feel loneliness too?"

"Not like you do." Yuma stares out into the sea. "Sometimes I feel like people treat me like I'm some sort of freakshow, but I've always had friends around to help me out."

"What is a 'freakshow?'"

"Another way of saying something that doesn't belong."

"...I see. So even if people feel like they don't belong, their friends give them that sense of belonging. You don't feel 'loneliness' when you belong somewhere."

"I guess you could put it that way?" Astral's way more philosophical than Yuma is.

"Robin-I mean, Fuya said that no one could understand him. No one is like him either. Did he want friends to give him a sense of belonging?" Astral looks out to the sea that seems to cover the city. "Fuya must feel 'loneliness' too. And his mother doesn't give him belonging. She's only giving the fantasy, 'Robin,' belonging."

"Yeah...that's what's confusing me." No matter how intensely Yuma stares at the water, she can't see what's under it. "Moms are supposed to love their kids right?" She leans her elbows against the railing. "Isn't that...how moms are meant to be?"

"Regardless of how 'moms' are meant to be, Fuya sounded like he was crying for help..."

"Yeah..." She slams her hands against the railing and starts walking again. "He shouldn't have to feel that way when he has his mom! Moms are supposed to make things better." Yuma looks at Astral, determined. "But if his mom doesn't want help him, then we will. Tomorrow, I'll try to meet him again, and we can duel him together!"

"...'We' will?"

"Yeah!" Yuma smiles. "You're worried about Fuya too right? I can't make him see you and he might not believe me, but I'll tell him about you okay? That way you two can be friends too, and you'll feel less lonely."

"I...would appreciate that. Thank you."

"...W-whatever! No need for thanks. Hmph!"

* * *

In a fancy hotel room, Ms. Okudaira was pouring a glass of water and taking a few delicate sips from it. She's thinking of what happened in Robin's break room. All she did was put her hand on the girl's back and she looked at her like she just tried to kill her. What happened to her to cause such a reaction? She sighs, putting the glass down. It's none of her business. The only reason she recognizes that girl is because when Robin first became Robin three years ago, he'd visit hospitals in costume to cheer sick children up as a way to garner good reputation. One of those kids was that girl. Back then she couldn't move out of bed, and she looked like she was ready to tear all the IVs out and escape. She was polite when Robin visited, but it wasn't until Robin offered to duel her that the girl's eyes lit up. Even though she wasn't...good...she really loved dueling Robin.

Robin looked so happy that he managed to make someone smile...isn't that why he wanted to be Robin? She looks at the balcony door. Fuya was always so timid and shy, so he would always tell her his dream is to be a brave hero. That's why she did whatever she could to make that dream a reality. It helped that she was once a prominent actress herself, whose parents made her dream of becoming a magical princess a reality. But like her when she started her career, Fuya seems resentful of his mother for being strict. Like her, he'll realize that this is all for the best. Ms. Okudaira just wishes he'll realize it sooner than she did, who never spoke with her parents after she was old enough to leave them. 

"Fuya..." She walked toward the balcony and opens the door. "It's time to...Fuya?" He's gone.

Meanwhile, standing in front of Yuma's home is a girl with silver hair. The sides of her hair is shaped like cat-ears, and her eyes seem to glow in the dark. A big gray cat approaches her. "Merp."

"How is she," the girl whispers.

"Mmmmmerp."

"S-she's crying in her sleep? How come?"

"Merp."

"You think she misses her mom? I see." The cat girl clasps her hands together. "I wish I could find her mom for her..."

"Merp."

"W-what? Comfort her myself? No way! I'm not capable of that! I-I-I can't even talk to her yet!"

"Merp merp."

"This isn't spying! This is-this is...reconnaissance. I'm-I'm evaluating the enemy."

"Merp?"

"No she's not the enemy. You know what she is to me..."

"Meeeerp."

"Yes I know you're a cat you silly thing."

"Merrrp."

"T-the enemy is...myself, I suppose. Or perhaps its...that other girl." 

"Merp. Merp merp."

"I..." The girl looks up at the attic window longingly. "I want to...I really want you to...Yuma."

The next morning, Astral leaves the key when they sense the cat from before is back. It's now on Yuma's stomach. Why? The cat is doing odd motions with its paws on Yuma's chest. Is it trying to kill her!? "Y-Yuma!"

"Merp," the cats says.

"Meeer..." Yuma replies, slowly opening her eyes.

The cats leaps off Yuma to the windowsill and disappears. "Yuma, a cat was trying to kill you!"

"Mehhh, wh-what?" Yuma's eyes finally open fully to see Astral two feet away from her, panicked. "What's wrong? A cat?"

"Yes, a cat! A cat was trying to kill you."

"Uh...huh."

"The cat was definitely real. Don't tell me that's a fantasy too."

"Alright, alright I believe you!" Yuma drags herself out of her hammock and looks at the open window. "It must have snuck in here from the rooftop." She closes and locks the window. "Don't worry. Cats don't hurt you unless you try to hurt them. It was probably a stray looking for someone to feed it." She sees the fur on her shirt and tries to brush it off. "Though Akari's allergic to cats, so now I gotta find a way to get this fur off before she washes it..."

"It was watching you last night."

"It was the same cat?"

"Yes. And it was looking through the window the night before as well."

"Huh...wait why didn't you tell me about this yesterday?"

"I was distracted by Ro...by Fuya."

"Right...Fuya." Yuma jumps down the attic and changes into her uniform. She chucks her shirt back into the attic where Akari can't find it. "Right! Let's try to see Fuya again after school."

"Alright."

* * *

"Good morn-"

"YUMA!"

"Wh-what is it?" Yuma didn't even reach her desk when Kotori ran up to her and shoved her mobile in front of her.

"Look!" On her mobile was live coverage of a series of people being tied up in various parts of the city. And the culprit...was Robin! People were saying that Robin was attacking people for criminal acts, ranging from almost running over cats to littering. Fuya's mom was interviewed, looking frantic in trying to say that it was all slander. She looks like didn't sleep at all last night. 

"Fuya..."

"Fuya?"

"That's Robin's actor."

"You found out Robin's-!? Nevermind that's not what important!" Kotori takes back the mobile. "There's no way this is Robin! Someone must be pretending to be him to ruin his image!"

"Why...?"

"Maybe an anti-fan, or a disgruntled staffer or just some jerk!"

"Perhaps its someone carrying a Number."

"You think so?"

"Yes."

"Well it certainly can't be Robin!" Hearing both Astral and Kotori answer hurt her head. "More importantly didn't Robin catch you? You've got to help me clear his name. You owe him!"

"...I suppose so." _And here I was hoping I could try dueling Fuya, but I guess this comes first. Maybe if I "help clear his name" Fuya's mom will let me duel him._

* * *

After school Kotori and Yuma starting walking around the area. Tetsuo had to attend a skateboard enthusiast meeting. Yuma got permission from Akari in exchange for telling her any exciting tidbits Yuma might discover. Yuma found more cats on the way than Robins though.

"Kotoriiiii..."

"Hush! It's not even seven yet."

"But I'm huuuungryyyy."

"You have food in your bag remember. Just eat it while you walk!"

"Hah, fine..." Begrudgingly she pulls out the fancy bento box that was left on her desk during lunch time. Grandma packed a bento for her already that day, so she didn't want it to go to waste. "It looks so expensive though..."

"Alright we'll sit down then! But you have to let me try some of it."

"Deal!" Kotori and Yuma sit down at the bench and enjoy the fancy lunch. It tastes as expensive as it looks. "Who do you think gave it to me though?"

"A fairy."

"It wasn't me."

"Kotori!"

"An admirer."

"Bzzt! That's even less realistic than a fairy!"

"What's an admirer?"

Yuma deliberately doesn't answer.

"Who else can it be other than an admirer?"

"Uuuuum...b-but who would even like me? I-in that way I mean." Yuma closes the box and puts it back in her bag. Yuma doesn't wear girls clothes or makeup. She doesn't even wear the girls uniform at school. She doesn't really consider herself pretty like Kotori and her other friend, although she's very proud of her "mane," the pink chunks of hair that stretch to the back of her neck. She's not even comparable to the other girls at school! Not to mention she's considered the loser of the school and has no talent to impress others with. So whoever has a crush on Yuma must have really weird taste.

"...I can think of a few people."

"Really? Who?"

"Hmmm...not telling!"

"Kotoriiiiiii~"

"Alright breaks over!" Kotori pulls out a couple of flashlight from her backpack and hands one to Yuma. "That fake Robin's incidents happened around eight to twelve, so he's gotta show up soon!"

"Then why did we scout this whole time if he only shows up at night!?"

"So we memorized the area he's in while its light out!"

"I haven't memorized a thing!"

"Let's go!"

"Hnnnng!"

"Do you want to keep talking about crushes more?"

"C'mon Kotori! Let's clear Robin's name!"

* * *

After another hour, they finally find a clue. A man was tied up on the sidewalk next to a big gray cat sitting nonchalantly.

"Sir!" Kotori runs up to the man to untie him.

"Merp." The cat looks at an alleyway, where Yuma just caught the image of a cape. She drops the flashlight and runs. As she reaches the alleyway she sees the boy dressed as Robin running. She begins running faster, practically flying toward the boy until she crashes into him.

"Ow!" The boy runs into a wall with a thud. Before he can react Yuma grabs his arms so he can't escape.

"Gotcha! Now tell me who you really are so I can go home!"

"Yuma?" The boy turns around. His mask fell off, revealing his face. His forehead is bleeding.

"...! Fuya...?" Yuma immediately lets go when she realizes she just caused her new friend harm. "I-I didn't mean to-I'm sorry." She reaches for her bag to pull out bandages Akari insists she keeps on her and holds them out to Fuya. "I-I thought you were some bad guy pretending to be Robin. I know that's not an excuse...I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Fuya pushes away Yuma's hand holding the bandages and stands up. "I don't need those. I just need to get back to work."

"Work?"

"I need to make my mother proud."

"...! But your mom looked so upset on the news!"

"If so, than that's not my mother."

"Uh..."

"I'm doing this banquet of justice for mother." Fuya grabs the mask of the floor. "Mother wants Robin...not Fuya. I'm not Fuya anymore. Fuya no longer exists. He never should have."

"Fuya!"

"Go home. It's dangerous. There might be people possessed by Dead Max around ready to cause havoc."

"But that's not-"

Robin leaps out of the alleyway. Yuma can't seem to get her legs to move to follow.

"Yuma!" Kotori runs up to her with the man who was tied up. "Are you okay? Why are you crying?"

"Huh?" Yuma hastily wipes her face. Without her permission tears were leaking from her eyes. "I...I crashed into Robin. I hurt his forehead."

"Did he cause you trouble because of that? Its not your fault," the man says. "At least he didn't tie you up like he did with me. All I did was trip over this big fellow."

"Merp," the big fellow says.

"Anyway, I better get home before he does another banquet of justice on me. Do you need me to escort either of you?"

"No thanks." Kotori pulls out her gazer. "I've got a tracker and emergency call should anything happen."

"Alright, stay safe." The man runs away.

"...We should call it a night."

"Yeah..."

"Do you know who it was?"

"..."

"...We can talk about it later."

"Sure."

* * *

"What does crying do?"

Yuma was lying in her hammock, looking at the photo in her hands. In the photo was a man, a woman, and the key that's now around her neck. "What do you mean by what it does? Crying is crying."

"Yeah but what is its purpose?"

"It doesn't have one! People cry sometimes because..."

"Because...?"

Yuma puts the photo back on the windowsill. "I don't want to talk about it right now."

"Okay." Astral learned not to prod any further if Yuma isn't going to cooperate.

"...Fuya said he didn't want to be Fuya anymore. That his mom just wants him to be Robin."

"..."

"Isn't that cruel? To say that you should never have existed...but I can't tell him I understand him, because no one ever told me who I should be. I figured that out on my own. And my mom...I don't know what my mom would want me to be, because..." Yuma sits up. "I don't know. I wanted to tell Fuya its okay to be Fuya, that I want to be his friend, that I want to duel him...but I'm stuck on how." Yuma put her hands to her head. 

"...You already know how though."

"I just said I-"

"Duel him."

"I want to but-"

"Since when have you ever hesitated in dueling?"

"How is that going to make things better though?"

"It's made things better for you before hasn't it?"

"...!"

"I've only observed a few of your duel, but I can see how dueling makes you happy, even against opponents you may not like. Like with Shark. I don't know the full details, but you seemed to hold a strong dislike toward him until you dueled him."

"Can't say that's...untrue."

"And yet after the duel you approached him and wanted to duel again. You didn't like him as a person, but you understood him as a duelist, and respected him. You no longer hated him."

"Well...yeah. I've always felt better about people while dueling. Dueling's fun." Yuma fiddles with the key. _It helped that the key fixed itself._

"It was the same for Shark. Regardless of how he felt about you before, that changed once you dueled him. Its a way of understanding each other. You may not know what to say to Fuya now. You may not understand him. But duel him and you may find the words. I'm sure Fuya also wants to duel too."

"..." Yuma hops out of the hammock and climbs down the ladder. "Wait there."

Astral obeyed. They notice the gray cat has returned to the window. A few seconds of staring at the cat later Yuma climbs back up the ladder with her regular clothes. "Are you sleeping in that?"

"Nope!" Yuma goes to the windowsill. The old fellow is back. "Hello again!" She unlocks and opens the window. The cat moves out of the way.

"What are you doing?"

"What else? Going to duel Fuya." She crawls out the window and onto the rooftop. "Let's go!"

* * *

At midnight, Robin removes his mask and puts it on the chair. He didn't expect Yuma to interfere, but he still managed to capture a few criminals that could have been controlled by Dead Max. Hopefully he managed to make Mother proud of him today.

_"I just like dueling!"_

_"I don't really get the rules yet, but the monsters are neat! Everyone has different ones, right? Cuz they have different interests and stuff."_

_"Hey hey, do you think we can play again soon? I'm bored out of my mind, so I love visitors. Even you don't want to duel, we can still hang out right?"_

_"...Oh, so you have to leave with your mom soon. It must be fun to travel with your mom!"_

_"...You love her right? And she loves you...N-no I'm fine. I won't hold you back now. Thanks for coming!"_

...Robin doesn't know why he's recalling memories of something unimportant that happened so long ago. 

"Fuya!"

"...! Yuma." Robin turns around sees her. For some reason, he's not surprised. "So you've come."

"I told you I wanted to duel you right Fuya? Lets duel!"

"My name is Robin. Stop calling me Fuya."

"But you said your name's Fuya."

"That was a mistake. I was misguided." Robin picks the mask back up. "I'm Robin. Always have been, and always will be."

"That's...do you really want to be Robin?"

"...It doesn't matter whether I want to Robin or not, it's who I am! It's who I have to be to make Mother proud of me." He puts the mask back on. "I'm Robin, enemy of Dead Max and server of the banquet of justice!"

"..." Yuma looks away for a second and takes a deep breadth. "You know, when I said I'm scared of standing still, its because when I feel like I'm stuck I want to do hurtful things. Like right now, I want to scream and say mean things about your mom." She returns her gaze to Robin, sheer tenaciousness in her eyes. "It's the same for you right? You don't really know what to do. You're stuck, which is why you're doing these hurtful things to yourself."

"To myself?"

"But its not right! You need to break free of that trapped feeling. And the way I get out of feeling trapped is by dueling." She takes out her gazer and activates it. "Sometimes dueling is the only way to reach people. So duel me, and maybe we can understand each other. Let's get rid of this stagnant air and let loose!"

"...Very well!" Robin activates the gazer in his mask. "I'll prove to you I'm the true Robin, once and for all!"

* * *

Number 83, Galaxy Queen. That's the Number trapping Fuya. He's extremely defensive of Galaxy Queen, whom he thinks is his mother. Robin's deck is based off the show, with Robin and his friends as monsters. The monsters can even speak with the same camaraderie as the show.

"Amazing..."

"Yuma?"

"That's so _cool_!" Yuma jumps in place for a moment. "I get it now! I get why everyone around me likes the show so much! Its so much more fun to see all this through dueling!" Yuma stops jumping. "Even though it hurts to be Robin all the time, you still love the show huh? That's why its so hard to let go. But if Fuya cares about Robin, then Robin should care about Fuya as well!"

"...I don't need to care about anyone except Mother!"

"Yuma, the Numbers are warping his mind. Finish the duel and then talk him."

"Right, right, the Number. Almost forget."

"Its right in front of you!"

"But its a character from the show like the rest of his deck! It blends in so well. Why is one of your Numbers specifically a character of the show huh!?"

"I don't...I don't kno-"

"FUYA!?" Yuma turns around and sees Fuya's mom entering the room. She pulls out her gazer and activates it to see the duel taking place. "Where have you been? What are you doing here in the middle of the night? I'm been worried sick about you!"

"...Your concern is appreciated, but it is unwarranted."

"But Fuya-"

"My name is not Fuya! I'm Robin, Different Dimension ESPer and protector of Galaxy Queen, my mother!" He points to the Number on the field.

"F-Fuya..." Ms. Okudaira remembers something from when she was little. Her parents tried so hard to make her the main lead in a magical princess show, they rarely did anything for her outside of that. It was all about her role and not her. That's why she hated it. Her nostalgia for it was only that: nostalgia. Fuya shouldn't have to accept the way he's treated, she should have been the one accepting what her son was really feeling. She never should have pretended she forgave her parents in the hopes that would mean Fuya would eventually forgive her. "Fuya...please..."

"Ma'am." Yuma looks at Fuya's mom. She looked genuinely regretful. "I know you're worried, but don't try to interfere! Maybe by watching us duel you can understand how Fuya feels."

"Robin!" 

"...How Robin and Fuya feel!" Yuma goes back into her duel stance. It doesn't improve her dueling, but she thinks it looks cool. "Get ready!"

* * *

Yuma didn't complain about Astral at all. As promised, she and Astral dueled Fuya together. Something in that sentiment tugged at Astral, as he holds Number 83 in their hands. The day they were born in a dewdrop, told they held the fate of their world in their hands. For some reason, even though they didn't see anyone else, Astral didn't feel lonely as they left their birthplace.

"Fuya!" The moment the duel ended and Fuya fell to the floor, Fuya's mom ran up to meet him. She gently placed a hand on Fuya's cheek. His eyes flutter open. "Fuya...I'm so sorry. I was wrong...Are you okay? Can you hear me?"

"M-Mother..." His mom...called him Fuya. She called him by his name. She...wanted Fuya, instead of Robin. That was enough. "Mom!" He hugs her. It was all he wanted.

"Fuya!" She hugs him back.

Its happening again. Yuma's eyes are watering. Why is she crying? "Yuma?"

"Yeah...this is what moms are supposed to be." Yuma turns to leave the building.

"Wait!" Robin rushes down the stair to meet her. "Sorry I caused you so much trouble. I don't know what happened to me! Do you need a handkerchief?"

"I'm fine!" She rubs her face. "I'm glad you're back to normal Fuya."

"Yeah...I don't blame you for not wanting to be my friend after this..."

"Oh hush! I wouldn't duel you if I didn't already see you as my friend!" Yuma rubs the back of her head. "Anyway, I better get going before Akari finds out-"

"YUMA!"

"Oh no." Just in time, Akari slams open the door and storms toward her. 

"What are you thinking, sneaking out the window like that!? It's 1 in the morning!"

"I...um, uh-"

She pauses when she sees Fuya, who's still dressed as Robin. "Robin?"

"It's Fuya. Fuya Okudaira." Fuya's mom approaches Akari. "It's my fault you see. Fuya wanted to be friends with this girl, but I wouldn't let him because of his image. So they both snuck out here to meet."

"..." Akari squints at Fuya's mom before she sighs. "That fine of you to take the blame ma'am, but my sister should know better than to sneak out in the middle of the night like that." She wraps her arms around Yuma. "I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you. You know that right?"

"Yeah...sorry." Yuma just dried her tears, and now she feels like crying again. Why is she so emotional nowadays?

Akari releases her and goes to Fuya's mom. "Was she dueling?"

"Well..." Ms. Okudaira notices the girl shaking her head furiously behind her sister. "No, they were just play-acting. She was pretending to be Robin's close friend who wanted to save him from Galaxy Queen."

"Ah. That's good." Akari pinches Yuma's cheek. "Yuma, you shouldn't do secret rendezvous after midnight until high school."

"It's not like that! Meanie!"

"Yeah, yeah c'mon." Akari pulls out a pair of helmets. "Let's go."

"Hold on." Fuya's mom pulls out her mobile. "Fuya, do you want to exchange numbers with your friend?"

"Yes!"

"Alright. Miss, remember not to tell anyone Fuya's info okay?"

"Of course!"

* * *

Akari and Yuma were walking to her motorcycle when Yuma realized something. "How did you know where I was?"

"I guessed. I called Kotori when I realized you were missing. She said you saw 'Robin' during your scouting earlier tonight, and admitted that you also met the boy yesterday at that building. Leave it to you to befriend a celebrity huh? So what was up with him and his banquet of justice last night and earlier tonight? I'm guessing I can't share the news on it since that woman just smelled like a lawsuit about to happen."

"...He was upset that his mom and a lot of the people seemed to care more about Robin than they do Fuya."

"I see. Well, it probably hard to be a character for so many years and not feel like who he plays as matters more than who he is. Seemed like his mom realized that, given she was willing to let you and Fuya exchange contact info."

"Yeah, she did." Yuma looks down at the ground. "She called Fuya by his name, and they hugged."

"...Are you thinking about our own mom?"

"Um."

Akari puts a helmet over Yuma's head when they reach the motorcycle. "You know if you want to talk about Mom with me you can. Same with Dad. No need for you to bottle up your feelings."

"..."

"Though maybe we should wait on that conversation for when its not such an ungodly hour." Akari gets on the motorcycle. "Hold on tight."

Yuma does. As they go onto the main road another motorcycle passes by them. She wasn't able to see the other rider, but she had the nagging feeling she should recognize them...

* * *

The girl with cat-like eyes and nails sharp as claws remains in the parking lot where Yuma and her sister rode away. "Yuma..."

She saw her duel that boy. Yuma was upset with him, yet while dueling Yuma looked so happy. It made her envious of the boy. "Do you think...she'd be happy if she dueled me?"

"Merp," the old gray cat says, nuzzling the girl's leg in encouragement. 

"Yuma said...sometimes the only way to reach people is through dueling. Do you think...my feelings will reach her if I dueled?"

"Mew." A blue cat with a ring on their tail puts a paw on the girls foot. The girl holds the blue cat in her arms. Soon, all of her friends shared their various meows of encouragement with her.

"Everyone...thank you."

* * *

The next day was a Sunday, so Yuma was able to sleep in until Kotori arrived. She and Yuma walked around the city, talking about what happened recently. Yuma left the fact that she has Fuya's contact number since she promised his mom she wouldn't share it. After she finished talking Kotori had one thing to ask. "Why didn't you ask for an autograph?"

"...Oh."

"Yuma."

"I was distracted!"

"You had one job."

"The job changed!"

"To what?"

"Being Fuya's friend?"

"..." Kotori can only sigh. How did Yuma become a friend of Robin's actor? Life just isn't fair. Then again, Kotori knows for a fact that anyone who gets to know Yuma for more than a couple minutes will find it hard not to like her. With Yuma's dueling fairy around, Kotori has a sinking feeling that Yuma's going to gain a lot more friends, and she'll have to fight for Yuma's attention soon enough.

"Merp."

"Hm? Oh! It's Merp!" Yuma sees the old gray cat sauntering up to her.

"Merp?" Kotori asks.

"Yeah, like the way he meows!" Yuma hold her hand toward Merp. Merp sniffs it, then strategically put his head under it for Yuma to pet him. Akari won't get an allergic reaction so long as the cat's not specifically around her right? Then a blue cat approaches from behind with a note in their mouth. "Who's your friend?"

"Mew." The blue cat has a more normal sounding meow as it drops the note in front of Yuma. She picks it up and begins reading.

"Yuma, I challenge you to a duel. Follow my friends and they'll lead you to me. Please come alone."

"Hey Kotori?" Kotori doesn't answer, too fixated with all of the cats that surrounded her. "...Kotoriiiiii..."

"Huh? O-Oh sorry. What's up?"

"Someone challenged me to a duel! Isn't that exciting?"

"That's suspicious!"

"Oh its fine. I'm going to follow Merp to the challenger, but they said I have to go alone."

"That's even more suspicious! Yuma-"

"Mrrow?" One of the cats surrounding Kotori takes the initiative and managed to leap into Kotori's arms.

"T-the kitty...just jumped into my arms."

Taking advantage of the situation Yuma snuck away with Merp and the blue cat to her challenger.

* * *

They reached a mansion just outside one of the neighborhoods. The cats are somehow able to open the entrance doors, which reveals a entrance hall filled with even more cats, and a girl in a pretty dress at the top of the stairs.

"Welcome," the girl says, trying to sound as sultry as she can. Yuma looks completely unfazed by her act.

"Hello! Are you the one who challenged me?" Yuma looks as Merp and the blue cat. "I've been seeing Merp a lot frequently. So he's your cat!"

"M-merp?" The girls sounds as confused as Kotori was. Yuma doesn't see why its so hard to understand.

"Because his meow sounds a lot like merp!"

"Merp."

"See!?"

"..." The girls tries very hard not to laugh. "That is...a fitting name for Merp." Merp walks up the stairs for the girl to scratch behind Merp's ear. "Merp was abandoned when his owners moved away without him."

"That's terrible!"

"It is." The girl picks him up. "Its happened with many of my friends. They're left in empty households, abandoned by the ones who're supposed to love them."

"Yeah...but now they have you right?" 

"Merp."

"Merp agrees!"

"...Thank you Merp."

"So you ready to duel me?" Yuma puts on her gazer. "Oh, what's your name?"

"Cathy. You may call me...Cat."

"Cat?"

"Y-yes."

"Okay! It's nice to meet you Cat!"

Cat's face turns red, so she hastily turns away so Yuma doesn't notice. "L-likewise!"

* * *

After dueling Cat, Yuma realized that she was her classmate the whole time! She's very quiet and doesn't gossip like her other classmates so she doesn't stand out, but still Yuma felt very embarrassed that she never recognized Cat. Turns out Cat really wanted to be Yuma's friend, which is why she asked to duel her. Of course Yuma agreed to be her friend! Cat's a really clever duelists, and her cat monsters are adorable. Yuma looks forward to seeing her at school. When she returned to Kotori, Kotori was still playing with Cat's other friends, not even noticing Yuma disappeared. 

Astral has another observation to make about Yuma. Despite being a girl herself, Yuma doesn't seem to understand other girls. Astral realized the meaning of "admirer" and given Cat's passionate play style, its obvious that she admires Yuma. Even so Yuma refuses to believe Astral on this front, asking how would Astral know what admiration looks like if they never experienced it. Astral asks if she's ever experienced admiration, to which she had no reply. Astral stands by their observation.

* * *

"Mother...after everything I've been through...I finally get to see you!"

Yuma and Astral were both laying down on the floor with all four legs kicking in the air as Robin was monologing. Robin was able to ward off the brainwashing with the help of his friends, who apologized for trying to keep Robin from knowing who his mother became, but Galaxy Queen was using the last of her strength to hold him down as she tried to escape. But as she's opening the portal, Robin calls out to her, shaking her resolve.

"Mother...you remember me don't you? You remember when we looked out at the stars and made our own constellations. We named them after our favorite fruits and colors."

"No...such nonsense! I only serve-"

"Remember when we tried to make father a lemon cake, and I snuck in five chocolate bars because I didn't like lemon flavor? And even though you knew what I did, you went with it anyway. And it tasted terrible! But you still ate it with me."

"Silence...Silence! These are trivial compared to-"

"Remember when I had that nightmare about a spider eating my leg? You held me in my arms and told me you'll never let spiders touch a hair on my head. Then you sang a lullaby about a constellation we made up, about a robot and a dinosaur falling in love. Their names were Lychee and Blue."

"These memories do not matter anymore!" Galaxy Queen's tears were causing the darkness surrounding her to fizzle. "All that matters...all that matters is Dead Max!"

"That's not true!" Robin finally shakes over her hold on him and wraps his arms around her. "You matter! Our memories are stronger than ten Dead Max's. Please! MOTHER!"

The darkness breaks. The portal Galaxy Queen was trying to open dissipates. Her black cloak turns white. She can't go back to her original self completely, still scarred by Dead Max's dark influence, but she can finally see her little boy holding her, like he used to so long ago. She put a hand in his hair, and Robin looks up.

Robin's mom smiles warily as she brushes her hand into her boy's hair. "I never thought I'd see you again this way...Robin."

"Mom..." For the first time in the series, Robin cries as he finally finds what he's been looking for. "Mom!"

The ending music starts as images of Robin and his mom flash by. Since Astral wants to finish watching, Yuma just opts to leave the tv on as she stands up and heads into her hammock.

"Yuma?"

"You can keep watching. Goodnight." Yuma's eyes inevitability reach for the photo on the windowsill. Instead of shutting her eyes, Yuma takes the photo and looks at the woman closely. They share the same ruby red eye color. The woman looks so kind, but how would she look when she sees Yuma? Yuma closes her eyes, unconsciously holding the photo next to the key on her chest.

"Goodnight..." Yuma says she doesn't feel loneliness the same way Astral does, but something in Yuma holding that photo makes Astral believe that's just untrue. She's never told Astral who the people are in the photo, but Astral can guess one of them must be Yuma's mother. Where are they now? Does Yuma miss them? Out of all the people they've encountered, why does it feel like Astral understands Yuma the least? Astral doesn't feel like watching the tv anymore, so they settle for watching Yuma's breadths growing quieter and quieter. _Yuma...out of all people, the one I want to understand the most is you._

Late into the night, a purple-haired boy with two rings on his finger looks out into the sea on one of that many docks in the city, thinking about a familiar girl they passed by while on his motorcycle a few nights ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe in the last line in the previous chapter I literally left a "anything could haplen" type mistake. Look it was like 10,000 words give me a break...not that this one is any shorter, but hopefully more...concentrated? Next chapter's going to focus entirely on the episodes featuring Shark, so next one is definitely going to be more focused. Maybe. There might be a bit of plotwist reveal in the next chapter. Just a tiny one.
> 
> It drives me wild that in the original episode Astral SOMEHOW had the tv on while Yuma was asleep. HOW!? People rag on poor ZEXAL a lot compared to other series because its obnoxious or whatever, but where's the 2 hour critique on the plot hole that Astral was able to have the tv on while Yuma's asleep. And no don't tell me "he probably turned it on and then forgot about until it got loud" because that's not FUN.
> 
> Anyway this is the fourth chapter in this story reaching novel length so next chapter if you're still here you're legally obligated to tell me why. I'm very egotistical I love reading my own writing, but why are YOU here? 
> 
> ...I'm kidding you don't have to comment. I'm just glad you're still here and hope you stick around mwah mwah.


	5. Sharks Always Have to Move

It was the last Sunday of the month, meaning Yuma could visit her friend from the hospital. She doesn't visit too often, since usually her friend doesn't have the energy to speak for very long, but Yuma still tries to visit at least once a month just to check on her. Right now Astral is in the key doing whatever it is they do in there, so Yuma doesn't have to deal with explaining who her friend is and why they're at the hospital. At least not at the moment. She's sure they'll hammer her with questions later.

"Morning Yuma!" Since Yuma always comes to visit on the same day of each month the receptionist that greets her is usually the same.

"Good morning!" The receptionist doesn't bother asking her to sign in as she makes her way to the elevator.

Reaching the 4th floor Yuma goes to the room her friend is always in, and as usual her friend calls out to her before she even enters. "Yuma."

Yuma walks in, grinning even though her friend can't see it. "Hey Rio. How is it that you always seem to know when I'm here?"

Astral uses Number 83 to cause another cog to move. They've now came to the hypothesis that the contraption is like a puzzle, since Astral had to find which Number unlocked which cog. As more and more cogs move the clearer the insides of the contraption are. Astral can't help but wonder...if the Numbers, which hold their memories, are the key to unlocking the cogs, then was the loss of their memories and the recovery of them preordained? Astral still doesn't have clear answers. 

"So you were totally right. Galaxy Queen was his mom."

"I KNEW it!"

"You're not going to believe this, but I actually met Robin's actor."

"Did you get his autograph?"

"W-well um..."

"You forgot, didn't you?" Rio laughs. "If you said you did, I wouldn't have believed you. What's he like?"

"He's really sweet and nice. I thought his mom was kind of...but she's alright too I guess. She eventually allowed me to have his contact number. He can only text me sometimes cuz he's busy wrapping up the season so-"

"Are you going to tell me his contact number?"

"No! I told his mom I'd keep it a secret."

"Even from a poor injured girl like me?"

"Rio."

"Oh fine. Any other celebrities you've met this month?"

"I don't know about celebrities, but I did duel Shark."

"Shark!?"

"Wait, even you know Shark?"

"Um...I've heard rumors about him."

"Well I didn't! I completely missed those rumors. He even looked baffled that I didn't know him." Yuma fiddled with her key. "You know, he was such a jerk at first. He even broke my key!"

Rio gasps. "Did you punch him? If you did I won't get mad. He totally deserved to get punched."

"No I just ran into a bush and cried a little."

"That's awful. Yuma I'm so sorry."

"Oh I'm fine now! The key got fixed, and after dueling him he seemed like way less of a jerk."

"He still deserves to get hit. Unbelievable!" Rio was fuming, mumbling under her breadth.

"I said its fine! He said he was sorry afterwards." Yuma decides the omit the fact that he probably did it because he lost the duel.

"That still doesn't make it okay!" 

"Rio..."

Rio sighs. "Sorry. You're the one deciding to forgive him, since you're the one he hurt. I still think he needs to do more to make up for this." Rio pauses to grab the cup to her left and drinks from it. "I mean, I don't think I've ever seen you without that key, even as you were going in for surgery! How much did it cost to fix by the way?" She puts the cup back on the table.

_"Obtain a new power in exchange for what you treasure most."_

"Don't know."

"Don't know!? Are they going to charge you later?"

"The key fixed itself. I don't know why."

"..."

"I know, I don't really believe it either. You also probably won't believe-"

"I believe you Yuma. You're not a liar."

"Thanks Rio."

"What else do you think I wouldn't believe?"

"That I won a duel."

"That is shocking."

"And that there's a being that keeps following me around."

"A being?"

"Yeah. They're um...they don't like being called an alien, though they come from another world."

"What's their name?"

"Astral."

"Astral..." Rio leans back against the bed. Yuma can't see Rio's eyes under the bandages, so she can't really tell what Rio's thinking. "What do they look like?"

"Hmm...like a fairy. Maybe that's why they like fairies more than they do aliens. Kind of...translucent. One side of them is brighter than the other for some reason. And uh...I guess you can say they're really beautiful, like jewelry. But you could also say they're too stagnant. They're usually just motionless in the air, crossing their arms all judgy-like."

"Do they judge upon us mortals?"

"Well they certainly judge me all the time," Yuma grumbles. "They're always asking me these judgy questions about my life. Like they think they're better than me! And they don't even remember who they are, so what do they know!? Admittedly, they are pretty good at dueling, but that's it!"

"They don't know who they are?"

"Yeah. When they entered this world or whatever their memories scattered in these cards called Numbers. So now since Astral can't duel themselves I have to duel for them, and they tell me which moves to use. It's a pain cuz I can't duel on my own when Numbers are on the line, because if I lose Astral will disappear." Yuma sighs. "They're aren't that bad. Its just...its not they're fault I guess, but I just don't know a lot about them, or what they're really thinking, you know?"

"Hmmm...Where are they now?"

"Inside the key. Apparently there's some sort of clock-like thingie in there related to Astral and the Numbers."

"Do you think I can meet them?"

"Not yet. I'm the only one who can see or hear them, but maybe once we find more Numbers they'll become more visible I guess? Maybe they can eventually duel on their own and I can get back to my own duels!"

Rio yawns involuntarily.

"Oh do you need to nap?"

"Yeah...sorry. I was hoping you could visit a bit longer, but I had a hard time sleeping last night."

"Yeah..." Yuma woke up to a nasty headache this morning, and when she looked in the mirror there were bags under her eyes. Rio probably has worse nights though, since she's still trapped in this hospital recovering from that incident last year. "Do you want me to see you again next week?"

"Yes! And tell me more about Astral! It sounds like your life's gotten more exciting since you met them."

"Well I can't deny that." Yuma stands up. "Oh by the way, has your brother visited yet?"

"Not yet. He sounds like he's been...busy."

"I see. Well one of these days I'm going to cross path with him! Can't avoid me forever!"

"Haha, I'll send him the warning. See you later Yuma."

"Yeah. See you!"

After Yuma is gone Rio turns her head toward the window, where she can more closely hear the birds outside. "Memories, huh?" Rio's eyes are already closed as she drifts back to sleep.

* * *

As Yuma's about to cross the street a motorcycle halts in front of her as the light turns red. Inside the motorcycle was..."Shark!?"

Shark turns to look at her. His expression is as unreadable as Astral is. "Uh...good morning. Long time no see," Yuma says, not sure what to say now that they've finally met again.

"...Yeah."

"...H-how've you been?"

"Fine."

"Oh. Okay."

"..."

"..."

The light turns green, and Shark immediately speeds through, leaving Yuma in the dust. It's only afterwards that Yuma realized she should have challenged him to a duel. "Fuck!"

* * *

The next morning before classes start, the class rep suddenly asked to see Yuma's deck.

"Sure?" The class rep already pulled the deck from its case and started leafing through it.

"Yuma?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's the Numbers you use?"

"Not with me. They're Astral's cards, so they only appear when Astral's around."

"Astral?"

"They're the Dueling Fairy," Kotori says.

"So that's why you never used them when dueling me." He hands Yuma her deck back. "I was wondering why you managed to beat Shark and Tokunosuke. To summarize it must be due to that 'Dueling Fairy' and their Numbers."

Yuma winces. "Y-yeah well...when Numbers are on the line Astral could be in trouble, so I have to let them control the duel with Numbers." Yuma huffs. "I wanted to duel Shark on my own, but because of the Number he had I had to let Astral duel him. I want to challenge myself again, but I can never find him!" Yuma remembers yesterday. "Except I did find him! He was stopped at a stoplight with a motorcycle, but then all I could muster was a hello! Gah!" She runs her hands through her mane. "I was so close!"

"...To be fair, you probably would have lost," the class rep says.

"So? That's not a guarantee!" Yuma puts her hands on her hips. "I told him I wanted to duel him again, and that's what I'm going to do!"

"Yuma...do you even care about winning?"

"Of course! That's the goal right?"

"Yeah that's the goal, but you don't-" The class rep sighs. He looks very tired. "Look, admittedly when we duel I have fun, but part of the fun is winning the duel. Which I do. Every time."

"So what's the problem?"

"Why do you think its fun? You always have that goofy smile after losing. Don't you get frustrated?"

"Sometimes, but I can't be frustrated every single time I lose you know. If I did I'd just be stuck in place gnashing my teeth until they break. Its better to just keep pushing forward onto the next duel right?"

"Yeah but what's the point of pushing forward if the result is the same every time!? Yuma sometimes its like you're trying to lose!"

"...Are you trying to say you don't want to duel me anymore?"

"I'm trying to say you should actually try to win!"

"I do try to win!"

"No you don't! Yuma, you probably know every single card in my deck by now, yet you still manage to lose! Do you even bother to think for like two seconds before you decide your next move?"

"No that'll slow down the game. I just go by impulse."

"Impulse doesn't work in a strategy card game! You need to think about what you're going to do and how to react to the other opponent!"

"Who has time to think while dueling? I don't want to stop and twiddle my thumbs, I want to keep the game moving forward!"

"Yuma, if you don't care about strategy why is your favorite pastime is a strategy game!?"

"What's going on," Tetsuo got out of his seat and whispered to Kotori as Yuma and the class rep's voices got louder and louder.

"I think Class Rep's staging an intervention," Kotori whispers back.

"Good luck to him. Trying to tell Yuma how to duel is like trying to teach a horse how to fly."

"Tell me how else I'm supposed to connect to people!? Everyone and their mom knows how to duel! It was the only way I knew how to reach others when I was-" Yuma sucks the air between her teeth, stopping herself. "I mean, ever since-ever since I was little, even when I couldn't understand people, I was able to at least understand them at least a little bit through dueling." Yuma points at the class rep. "Like you! Without dueling I never would have gotten to know you! And you would have never gotten to know me. Doesn't that count for something?"

"..." The class rep sighs. "Admittedly I don't think I would have met you if not for dueling, but the reason we're friends is because I came to know you as a person. You might have learned things about me through my dueling style, but I can't understand you, because frankly I don't know what your dueling style is. Just, to summarize...you're able to have fun with dueling and you understand others better through dueling even when you lose, and that's fine and all...but you can have more fun when you put yourself on an even playing field by building your own strategy. Dueling is a two-way street. While you can understand people through dueling, others might not be able to understand you if you don't understand what you're even doing. Maybe by discovering your own play style aside from impulsiveness you might discover things about yourself? Realize that strategy can be fun? Just a little bit?"

"I don't...really need to discover anything more about myself."

The class rep groans.

"But I kind of get what you mean. I'll think on it."

"Good! Thinking is good! Thanks." The class rep returns to his seat, ready to take a nap.

* * *

Once classes were over Yuma was ready to hunt for her next opponent when Cat greeted her. "Um...hello Yuma."

"Hey Cat! Do you wanna duel?"

"Um, actually, I couldn't help but overhear..."

"Oh, right." Yuma groans. "Honestly I just don't see any strategy I make up working. My brain just doesn't work that way! Its easier to pick monster cards and just use 'em, you know?"

"Oh...I see." Cat's hands fiddle with her bag handle. "Um, although, you can still try studying your deck. That way the knowledge is in the back of your mind while playing. You can still...go with your heart right?"

"Um, yeah I suppose..."

"Hmmm..." Cat shakes her head. "A-anyway, what I was going to say was that...I overheard you wanted to duel Shark again, right?"

"Right!"

"Well, my friends actually found out where he frequents."

"Really!?"

"Yeah...I should warn you though, the place where he goes and the people he speaks to there...it all seems quite suspicious." Cat reaches for Yuma's shoulder, before retracting her hand and shying away. "J-just...I know this is silly to tell you, but be careful, alright?"

"Of course I'll be careful! Since when have I ever been reckless Cat?"

"Um..."

"That was a joke. I'll try to be careful."

"Thank you..."

"So where is this?"

"Well..."

* * *

Yuma finds the alley Cat was talking about inside the mall. Apparently Cat's friends like to congregate there because most of the time nobody comes near these areas of the mall. Despite the alley looking as suspicious as Cat described, there's nothing blocking it. Yuma walks into it and down the stairs.

"Yuma?"

"Fuck!" Yuma almost tripped down the stairs. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Where are we going?"

"I'm going to duel Shark."

"Why?"

"Because I told him I wanted to duel him without all that weird stuff happening!"

"What weird stuff?"

Says the floating fairy wannabe who lives inside a key and needs duel cards to live. "Look just don't interfere with the duel."

"Since when have I interfered?"

"Since when have-you interfere like all the time! Whenever somebody's got Numbers I have to listen to you to duel! I'm just telling you not to get involved in duels when you don't need to."

"Yuma-"

"I don't care if I lose! You don't have to tell me I'll lose!"

"...Do you...dislike me?"

"...!" Yuma was glad she was at the bottom of the stairs. If she wasn't she definitely would have fell. "T-that's not it. I'm just annoyed at the circumstances."

"...I don't see how the circumstances are in anyway negative for you. Your life is not at risk, and you're dueling skills are much stronger with me. The first time you won, weren't you happy?"

"Well, yeah..."

"Don't you like that feeling?"

"I'd like it if I was able to get to that feeling on my own."

"But you can't."

"Why not!? Because I don't have powerful cards like the Numbers? Because I'm can't make up strategies? Or is it because I'm just stupid and unable to do anything right ever? Which is it!?"

"...Nevermind." Astral looks away as Yuma huffs and keeps walking. Astral keeps telling themselves that eventually Yuma would be able to listen to them, but it seems its still not possible. What could they do to get her to listen?

Yuma reaches the broken down arcade store. The doors still open automatically. She walks in. "Shark? Shaaaaark? Helloooooo?"

"What do you need Shark for?" A few tough-looking guys walk out of the dark corners. They start circling her, like they were sizing her up to see if she's a threat.

"I just want to duel him. Are you his friends or something?" Yuma doesn't like to judge, but they look a bit mean. In hindsight, Yuma probably should have brought Tetsuo with her. 

"...Wait." One of the boys stops circling her and moves a bit closer. "Y-You're..." He pales. "You're Cliff Girl!"

One of the other boys also stops moving. "Gingi, what are you talking about?"

"You know, Cliff Girl!" He starts motioning towards Yuma like he's making sense. Yuma knows what he means, but she's not going to help him out. Just hearing that name is making her blood boil.

"Dude, is she like, a hiker or something?" The rest of them stop moving around as well.

"No she's like, a creeper tale."

"Creeper tale?"

"Cliff girl was hiking with her family, like she's done many times before...but one day, she fell down a cliff. She died on impact."

_Died?_

"She looks to be breathing just fine dude."

"Yeah, she's breathing now, but she wasn't when a photographer found her. He immediately took a photo as evidence and called the police. However, as he was waiting...Cliff Girl stood up! She wanted to just walk back up the cliff to her family! Every bone and organ in her body should have been broken beyond repair, and yet she still tried to walk!"

"Holy fuck." Some of the boys look at Yuma, impressed. "That's fucking insane."

"And then-"

"Please shut up." Yuma doesn't feel like letting him talk anymore. "I wasn't dead, anybody after an accident is going to look scary. Sorry you couldn't tell the difference from a photo you freaks like to share because you have nothing better to do."

"...!"

"Do you think its funny to make up stories about injured little girls? I was eight. I fell down a cliff. A photographer happened to find me and call an ambulance. They took a photo because they thought it would have been helpful. That photo was given to the police, and then some creep in the force thought it'd be something neat to share. I had a lot of broken bones, but here I am. There. End of story."

Gingi looked like he wanted to talk about the rest of the tale, but the boy next to him smacked him upside the head.

"Now where's Shark?"

One of the boys finally bothers to answer her. Probably out of pity. "He's here, but I wouldn't bother challenging him. He gave up on dueling."

"Gave up...hmm..." Yuma sighs. "This kind of soured my mood. I'll come back later." Yuma turns and heads to the exit, but before she leaves she turns around to say, "If you want to duel me later that'd be fun, but please don't spread that ludicrous story. Also if you saved that photo delete it. If my sister found out you may have saved it she'll snap you in half like a twig. Bye!" The door automatically closes behind her once she's far away enough from it.

* * *

"Who the fuck came up with the name 'Cliff Girl' anyway. What a pathetic name! The least they could do is make up one that's scarier." Yuma doesn't feel like trying to duel anyone else, so she's just tossing pieces of rubble into the sea. There's cleaner robots that'll pick them up from the bottom of the sea anyway. She recalls that people can toss the rubble so it slides across the water, but like with many things in her life, she's never been able to do it right. It just goes down with a plop.

"What did he mean by 'died?'"

Plop. Another piece of rubble sinks into the water without so much as a ripple.

"...Yuma, I'm not trying to insult you. That was never my goal."

Plop.

"However, I am still new to this world, and to you. I don't quite know what to make of you. I assume you also don't know what to make of me, which is why you are so cautious of me. But know this: no matter whether Numbers are involved or not, you're still the one dueling. I advise you, but I don't want to control you. I don't see why you have to feel like you don't have any say in duels."

Plop.

"You're not stupid Yuma."

Yuma drops the rubble she was about to toss. "Then why do you keep telling me I'll lose?"

"Because you don't think ahead."

"Well its not my fault I can't think ahead!"

"..."

"...No, I guess its kinda my fault." She picks up the piece of rubble she dropped and tossed it. Plop. "I can hit my head against planks trying to jump twenty meters and I can get water up my nose while trying to hold my breath for minutes at a time, but thinking is the one thing that makes my head hurt to the point of breaking. Like really bad." She picks up another piece of rubble. "Like, I could spend so long planning out how to toss this rubble so that it can fly across the water, but it won't amount to anything, because I'll spend so much time just standing still looking at the it, wondering why it takes me so long to think about how to toss it. I stand still and try to think, but what comes out of my head is just nothingness and pain. So its just better to toss the rubble without thinking!" She tosses it. Plop.

"...Have you ever seen anyone make the rubble fly across the water?"

"Once or twice."

"Can you recall the way that they did it?"

"Um...no."

"Then your problem isn't that you can't think, its that you don't have the correct information in the first place. You have to observe and prepare before you toss the rubble. Know the movements and practice them, and you won't have to think at all. It'll be the same for dueling: observe and prepare, and soon you'll know what to do without the need to think at all."

"..." Yuma picks up another piece of rubble. "So there's no point in trying to toss this the way I am now?"

"...I don't think there's a point, no. However, _you_ think there's a point. That's the difference between you and I. You see that it matters not that you succeed, but that you keep trying."

"Well, yeah." She tosses it. Plop. "I mean, I've always known how bad I was at like...everything. But its like, it was always the choice between being frozen in place and running into a wall. I'd rather run into a wall, you know. At least I'm doing something. Anything." She picks up another one. She's starting to run out of pieces of rubble to toss. "You know, when I first started to learn to walk-or relearn how to walk I guess-" Toss. Plop. "-my physical therapist would get soooo pissed at me, because even before I could stand steady I wanted to just _run_. Like run right out of that gym and outside. Usually I'd end up right back at the hospital, because obviously I couldn't keep my balance and trip. One time I managed to escape to the entrance, only to topple down onto the concrete ground. I didn't think I could find more bones to break, but I managed to break my leg. Again. My physical therapist resisted yelling at me, but Akari threatened to buy me a new pair of legs that I can't break. She was worried sick. She's always been worried about me." She runs out of nearby rubble to toss and perches down on the dock. "I knew I caused trouble doing those kinds of things, but I couldn't stop myself from trying. Even though I broke my leg and was forced to spend another couple of weeks at the hospital, I still wanted to run. Some part of me demands that I keep moving forward, so I do." She looks at how the sunset meets the sea. "I thought if I didn't move then, what's the point of being here? It's like...its like sharks."

"Like Shark?"

"Not Shark, sharks, the fish he's named after. They're these giant fish with razor sharp teeth that hunt under the sea. There was this fact I learned about them while watching an old documentary. They always have to move. If they don't, they'll die."

"Die..."

"Oh." Yuma remembers she never answered Astral's question. "Death is...like disappearing for you. You can't come back from it."

"Do you die if you stop moving?"

"No, sharks die if they stop moving, humans don't. I just _feel_ like dying when I'm standing still, but I don't mean literally dying. Everyone dies eventually, but for different reasons." Yuma stands up. "Its not really something I like to think about. Death is like being stuck in place forever, so it sounds terrifying. I'm sure its like that for everyone." 

Yuma looks at Astral directly, something she hasn't done the whole day.

"But that's why I can't give up. Right now as I stand here breathing, I'm not giving up. The fact that I can keep moving and trying and failing shows that I'm alive." Yuma turns away from the dock, ready to head home...only to see Shark was in front of her now. "Er..."

"..."

"He's not moving. Is he dying?"

"He's not a real shark," Yuma loudly whispers to Astral as she eyes Shark. She doesn't know who's worse at being unreadable, Shark or Astral. "Er...H-how long have you been there?"

"..." Shark looks away from Yuma. Saying that he's been there the whole time she's been talking about sensitive issues to her imaginary friend might lead to this encounter being even more awkward than it already is, so he decides to just avoid the question altogether by asking his own. "Why were you looking for me?"

"How did you...oh." Yuma frowns. "I'm guessing your friends told you about me huh?"

He managed to avoid admitting he overheard Yuma talk for almost ten minutes, but now he's being asked if he knows about Yuma's accident. Which he does because Gingi wouldn't shut up about meeting a "creeper tale legend." How can he answer that though when its so obvious that Yuma hates being called that?

"Figures," Yuma sighs, already guessing Shark's silence affirms that he knows now. "Let me ask you this then. Did you already know about it before? Was that why you decided to give Tetsuo his deck back?"

"No." Shark finally can answer something without provoking her.

"Really?" Yuma's eyes widen. "You really didn't know?"

"I didn't."

"Oh good." Yuma sighs in relief. "I thought you just gave Tetsuo his deck back because you pitied me or something."

"..." Shark doesn't want to mention that he did feel bad about breaking Yuma's key, and also...a little scared. She looked ready to break something before running away. Something in her expression back then made Shark think he needed to avoid encountering her again at all cost, and he didn't know why. Yet what did it matter when she challenged him herself? And here she is again, looking for him. "So why were you looking for me?"

"I wanted to duel you!"

"Why? You already won." Shark looks down on the ground and sees a piece of rubble. He tosses it into the water. It hops across the water six times before it sinks. "Besides, I've already given up dueling, so there's nothing to gain in dueling me."

"Hmm..." Yuma looks out at where Shark managed to toss the rubble so that it flies with envy. "I only won because all that weird stuff happened. I wanted to duel you without the weird stuff and the bets and all that." She looks at Shark again. "Can I ask why you gave up on dueling? Do you not like it anymore?"

Does he not like it anymore? Maybe. Maybe he stopped liking duels ever since that fateful day, when he was disqualified for cheating. All the duels he went through was a way for him to vent out that frustration, yet even after his opponents are left in the dust without hope, he was always left empty inside. Maybe that's why he finds Yuma really annoying, because instead of despairing when she was losing to Shark, it was like she was getting more and more excited, not grudging him for what he did at all during the duel. What made it even more annoying was that after the duel it was the first time in what felt like forever that Shark felt something inside him. He almost said, "that was fun" to Yuma back then. And that was a duel he lost! Why is it the duel he lost that made him the happiest he's felt in so long? Ridiculous! This is absurd.

"Shark?"

"It doesn't matter. Just leave me alone."

"Hmm..." Yuma tilts her head to the side. "I just don't get it. Why would you give up so easily?" She sighs. "I know its none of my business, but I can't really stand seeing others act so resigned you know."

"I'm not resigned!"

"Then why are you saying you've given up?"

"I just don't duel anymore!"

"That's not what you said. You said you 'gave up' on dueling."

"I just decided not to play anymore! It's not that big of a deal." Shark walks away. Why did he bother approaching her anyway? "I have somewhere else to be. Bye." He gets on his motorcycle and drives away, once again leaving Yuma in the dust.

"Shark..." She sighs. "I want to understand you more. How can you give up on something and just be okay with that?" She starts walking back to her house. "Sometimes, I still don't understand people."

"Neither do I, but I want to."

_"...can you hear me?"_

_"You're...hm? Weirdo."_

_"What am I doing? I'll try showing you soon. Hahahaha..."_

"Yuma? Yuma! Can you hear me?" Yuma felt something warm on her forehead. A hand. She forces her eyes to open. Its blurry, but she can guess who the hand belongs to. 

"A...kari?"

"Oh finally!" Akari stands up from kneeling. "I've been trying to wake you up for an hour now! I was worried I'd have call the hospital."

"Hospital? Why would you say I'd have to-ah!" Now that she's awake Yuma can feel her head hurting like a bees nest moved in. It stings, and she can hear a faint ringing. Its usually not this bad in the morning. Not only that, but she also feels really tired. Normally the moment she woke up she can jump out of bed to start the day. Speaking of which, Yuma looks toward the clock. "I-It's ten...why is it ten?"

"Don't ask me. Maybe you need to change your prescription. One of them probably makes you tired when you take them, but you never notice because you have the energy of a rocket ship." Akari backs away. "I already called the school and said you were sick, but you don't have a fever. How's your head?"

"Fine..."

"Good. I'm still calling the doctor to set up an appointment just in case."

"Noooooooo..."

"Oh stop whining! I've given you a day off and everything." Akari climbs down the ladder. "I'll be at a meetup today, so if anything goes wrong call me."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Eat breakfast."

"Okay!"

"And stay home! Don't do anything reckless."

"Alright already! Go away!"

Yuma can hear Akari laugh as she leaves her room. Yuma slowly drags herself out of bed. Why does she feel so heavy? _C'mon shake it off!_ She shakes her head back and forth violently to try to get rid of the drowsiness. She's now drowsy, hurt, and dizzy. "Uggggh..." She climbs down the ladder slowly and heads downstairs. By the time she reaches the kitchen Akari's gone, but Grandma's there drinking her tea. "Good morning."

"Good to see you decided to say hello before you sneak out the house young lady."

"Hm? Wh-whatever do you mean by that...?"

"Didn't you sneak off in the middle of the night for some boy before?"

"G-grandma! It wasn't like that! Don't be so weird!"

"Hmm? Well what else could it be? Unless..." Grandma pretends to gasp in shock, putting her hand to her mouth. "Dueling?"

Yuma can tell what Grandma's hinting at, and she plays along. "What? Grandma, how could you accuse me of such a thing? I could never! You know I'm a good girl right?"

Grandma nods solemnly. "Of course, of course. It was wrong of me to assume such heinous actions from my good and pure granddaughter."

"That's right! Good and pure!"

"I can trust my good and pure granddaughter to make the right choices correct?"

"Of course!"

"So it won't be a problem to let this good granddaughter go about her day outside the house. And she deeeefinitely won't go challenging folks to dueling, riiiight?"

Yuma stifles a laugh. "Absolutely! I won't even think about cards! I'll avert my eyes if anything so much as news of a card game crosses by my ears!"

"Good, good! Then I'll let you go, but before that my good granddaughter's going to eat breakfast right?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Excellent!" Grandma puts her cup on the counter and heads to the fridge. "Let me reheat it for you." When she turns around she notices Yuma leaning her head against the table. "Are you alright Yuma?"

Her head shoots back up. "I'm fine! I'm...uh." She yawns. "I don't know why I'm so tired..."

"You've got bags under your eyes. If this goes on they'll be bigger than poor Akari's when she's too invested in a project. Are you having nightmares?"

"Nightmares?"

"Yeah." Grandma scoops out the leftovers onto a bowl. "Sometimes I have bad dreams, and they wake me in the middle of night. Afterwards its harder to go to sleep."

"Hmm...I don't remember waking up in the middle of the night, but I have been dreaming about stuff lately. I don't know what it is though, because by the time I wake up I forget! I think I was...talking to someone."

"Do you know who it was?"

"Um...no. But I did cross out the option of it being the door."

"That's a start!"

* * *

Shark was about to head into the arcade when he notices out of the corner of his eyes a nuisance. Of course assuming she'd just leave him alone would be too optimistic. "Yuma."

"Shark." She steps forward. "Let's duel!"

He groans. "How many times do I have to say I don't play anymore for you to understand?"

"Well how many times do I have to say I want to duel you for you to get it?" Yuma balls her hands into fists. "I don't believe you when you say you're giving up on dueling! I don't understand why!"

"Well, I don't understand why you're so intent on wanting to duel me!"

"Because I like you!"

"WHA-!?"

"I like you when we're dueling! Its so fun playing with you! So of course I want to duel you again!"

"Fu-you-hnnnng!" Shark doesn't have the words to respond to this...this nonsense! He just wants to get away from this weirdo and the situation she's putting him in as soon as possible, so he makes the impulsive decision to just book it.

"HEY! Get back here!"

* * *

Shark learned very quickly not to run in a straight line when being chased by Yuma. Turns out, she's really fucking fast. The only reason she didn't catch him immediately is because Shark knows the area and can jump over fences and maneuver across water gardens with ease while she can't slow down enough to make clean turns. He swears he heard her crash into barriers and fall into water multiple times, so how is it that she's still chasing him!? What is with this girl!?

Finally, he can no longer hear her behind him. Ironically enough he made it to the dock where they met yesterday. He puts his hands on his knees and catches his breadth.

"I have water in my bag if you need any."

"AAAAAAAGH I GIVE UP!"

He turns around to see Yuma having the absolute nerve to look dissapointed that he gave in. "Well don't give up! The only reason I was able to catch up is because Astral suggested you'd stop running if I held still. If you want to keep going-"

Shark puts a hand to her mouth. "Stop. Just stop talking, okay?" He removes his hand and sits on the concrete ground where he can see the ocean. She sits next to him and holds out a bottle. She still looks as full of energy from before they started running, but Shark can't help but notice the bags under her eyes. "Do you have another bottle?"

"Just this one."

"...I'll drink water if you drink first."

"Okay!" She opens the bottle and holds it above her and lets the water fall into her mouth. After its halfway empty she hands the bottle to Shark. He snatches it out of her hand and finishes it. Seeing a cleaner robot floating on the ocean fishing out litter he expertly tosses the bottle toward it.

The cleaner bottle goes, "Garbage?" and with surprising finesse catches the bottle in the air. "Garbage!"

"Bravo!" Yuma cheers the cleaner robot on. She'd like to imagine the robot feels very proud of itself.

"...Gills," Shark suddenly says.

"Huh?"

"The reason why sharks are always moving is because of their gills. In order for them to breath they have to keep water constantly flowing into their gills."

"Oh. Interesting!"

"..."

"..."

"...You're not going to give up trying to duel me are you?"

"Nope!"

He sighs, and gets up off the ground. "Lets make a bet. If I win, don't ask to duel me ever again."

"Hmm..." Yuma stands up as well. "I don't like that fact that we're still betting, but if that's what it takes then fine."

"What are you going to bet?"

"Um...do I have to make you bet something?"

"It only words if we both have something at stake."

"Oh okay. Um...how about if I win, you...uuuuuum...oh! If I win you have to tell me why you broke my key and made everyone bet their decks."

"...!"

"Don't get me wrong! I'm not mad about it anymore. I just can't think of anything else to bet about."

"...Deal!"

"YES!"

* * *

Shark has done something even Astral could not predict. He was able to defend against a Number despite not having Numbers himself. He's very impressive. Not only that, but it appears that his duel with Yuma affected her greatly. She's not just excited by the duel. She seems to recognize Shark's capabilities, and once the duel finished she was looking at him intensely.

"..."

"There, I won, so don't ask me to duel again."

"...Liar."

"Excuse me?"

"Liar!" Yuma laughs. "What's this about giving up on dueling? If you really gave up, you wouldn't have found a way to counteract Numbers! That was amazing!" Yuma takes off her gazer. "Whenever I find something blocking me, all I can do push it in the hopes that it'll break, but not you. You're the kind of person who can find a way through that block without breaking yourself. Its kind of envious really, but I can tell you worked really hard on dueling!" 

"..." Shark's mouth goes slack-jawed. She...was right, annoying as it is to admit. The moment the duel started, he realized he was waiting for the moment when he could get back at his loss.

Yuma looks down at the ground. "I always tell myself that so long as I don't give up I have a chance, but looking at you I realized something. Every time I told myself there's no point in thinking ahead because I'm dumb, that's a form of giving up, because I've resigned myself to the same loss over and over again. I can't stay like this. I have to think through things and strategize and learn from previous losses, like you did!"

 _...! Amazing...Shark really is amazing! He was able to change Yuma's perspective in a way I was never able to. He didn't even compliment her or told her what to do, and yet she's finally willing to learn._ Astral suddenly feels like pressing a hand against their chest. _I should be happy that Yuma may finally be able to improve now, but what is this feeling? Another pain in the heart...why?_

"You know, I thought I'd be okay with losing because I only needed to duel you once...but now I want to duel you again. Again and again! I've never felt such a need to duel someone the way I need to duel you." 

Yuma puts a hand to her chest similar to Astral.

"But now I can't because I lost the bet. I suppose this is what it means to lose huh. It's kind of a bittersweet feeling knowing I won't be able to experience this with you again."

_Bittersweet...so that's what this feeling is._

"..." Shark well and truly doesn't know how to respond to all of this, but one things for certain. Yuma...well and truly doesn't hold any grudge against him. More than that, she might even...like him, despite having every reason not to? She's too bizarre! 

"Well, I might not be able to challenge you, but maybe you and I can hang out sometime? It'd be nice to get to know you more! You could tell me more about sharks and how they move."

"...Y-you...want to be friends with me?"

"Sure!"

"...! No...no thanks! I don't need that!" Shark turns away, having enough of this nonsense. Even after winning a duel he was waiting for, why is he still made to feel this way around this...this...this Yuma! It's not like...He doesn't want to be her friend as well does he? No, nevermind! Time to go. He clicks a button on his gazer to summon his motorcycle, and it flies to him in less than a minute. He climbs on. "I already got a group and you've got yours, so we don't need to be friends."

"Friends aren't made out of necessity, they're made naturally! You might not think of me as a friend, or even like me, but I already see you as a friend, and I think you're really cool!"

"GOODBYE!" Shark speeds away, leaving Yuma, Kotori, Tetsuo and the class rep in the dust...wait.

"Guys? When did you get here?"

"We were here the whole time," Tetsuo says. "Seems like you were very focused on dueling Shark. Almost looked like a serious duelist there."

"Oh please. I still lost...Class Rep why are you crying?" 

"You were so close!" He sniffled. 

"Close to what?"

He starts wailing.

"Class Rep wanted to see you duel without the Numbers," Kotori says between patting the class rep's back as he weeps.

"Well no one told me to do that."

"I was distracted!"

"Well Shark wanted me to use the Numbers. I thought it'd be disrespectful if I didn't."

"And you just did what he told you to do! Yuma, you could have won without the Numbers! I saw how you could do it!" The class rep wipes his eyes. 

"...Tell you what." Yuma grabs the class reps hand. "I'll treat you to ice cream, and you tell me how I could have won, alright?"

The class rep didn't even wait for her to finish before he started dragging her to the nearest dessert shop as he started talking. "Alright so FIRST of all..."

"Where's our ice cream?" Kotori asks jokingly as she and Tetsuo follow behind.

_"You hear whistling? Probably that creep doing his job. He's so melodramatic..."_

_"...Beats me why you can hear that! I don't even know how you got here."_

_"...Oh I'm not complaining! Its nice to have the company. It's boring to play around with the same people all the time. Hehehe..."_

_"I'm verrrrry excited to show you this grand scheme of mine. You're gonna love it, I just know it."_

_"And if you hate it, well, that'd be fun to see too..."_

The next few days Yuma's headaches haven't improved, but she was at least able to make it to school on time. The doctor didn't have any answers as to why they've suddenly gotten worse, other than to theorize that it might be due to "overworking." Yuma thinks this might be because of Astral's sudden appearance stressing her out, but she doesn't want to say that out loud of course. Its not Astral's fault after all. She's also started to remember hearing things in her dreams. Whistling, laughter, sometimes screams and vague conversations. Yet despite the disturbing sounds she doesn't feel like they're nightmares per se. She's not feeling bad because of the dreams. Maybe the headache's are coming from trying to remember the dreams? If so, its another thing that'll probably frustrate her for the rest of her life, so it'd be better if she just set that aside. Besides, she's trying to focus on dueling! 

"Yuma..." Tetsuo groans. "Why do you keep making me duel?"

"Studying!"

"How is this studying?"

"I'm trying to figure out how you duel."

"Is that why you just keep using attacks?"

"Yep!"

"And then you're going to just uses defense? And then traps?"

"Yep yep!"

Tetsuo groans grow longer and longer with each passing day he hangs out with this girl. "Yuma I don't think this is how you study dueling. Are you getting anything out of this?"

"Hmmm...hmmmmmmm...yeah! I think I am!"

"And what are you getting?"

"I...cant really put it into words. I think I'm starting to predict what you're going to do next in each turn though!"

"That's because I don't have to change my strategy at all since you're only attacking!"

"Yuma. I'm proud you're trying to study, but perhaps it would be simpler to just let me advise you."

"..." Yuma sighs. "I get that you want to help me Astral, and I'm willing to listen to you, but I also don't want to just depend on you! I want to be able to do this on my own if I can!"

"If you continue dueling with me, you will. It just takes time."

"They're right," Tetsuo says.

"You can hear them!?"

"No, but I'm guessing they're telling you common sense."

"He's right. How interesting that he knew."

Now it's Yuma's turn to groan.

"Cliff Girl!"

"Oh no." Yuma sees that creeper tale fan running toward them. Gingi was his name. Before he can face Yuma Tetsuo gets in his way. It helps that Tetsuo's a solid two feet taller than this guy.

"Excuse me, I don't know who you think you are, but maybe don't try to harass my friend here, mkay?"

"I-I'm not trying to harass, I just forgot her name!" He tries to swerve side-to-side to meet Yuma in the eye, but Tetsuo holds his arms up to block him. "You're Shark's friend right? He needs help."

"...Tetsuo, its okay." Tetsuo drops his arms and stands to the side. "My name's Yuma. What happened to Shark?"

* * *

Gingi didn't really care for Shark when he joined. He always acted like he was so above everyone, refusing to duel even the bosses. Like, what was he even doing there if he's not going to actually hang out with them? Then Cliff Girl showed up, asking if Shark could duel her. She acted nice until Gingi mentioned her tale, and then the look on her eyes could freeze hell. She's...just as awesome as he'd expect, given she spat Death in the face! So cool! Gingi would bet if they recruited her she'd be a way better member than Shark. Although, when he spied on Shark's duel with her, she wasn't exactly on par with him, but at least she tries to meet him halfway, while he looked like he wanted to jump the dock and swim into the sea. Afterwards Shark still didn't bother to hang out with them, and Gingi finally had enough. He went to the bosses' room and asked them why they kept Shark around. He regretted even approaching that damn room.

It started out innocuous enough. Shark's a big deal in the dueling scene, so if the bosses can keep a leash on him he'll bring in big money in the underground dueling arenas. That's fair enough reason to keep him around. Gingi was about to leave, then the bosses told him they were going to steal an antique card from the museum. He didn't even have time to argue back when they roped him into joining their heist! How can they think this is a good idea!? Gingi can't say that the bosses have always been considerate of the other members, but he couldn't imagine they'd become this reckless! To top it all off Shark was roped into joining the heist as well. Then when he and Shark were left alone, Shark told Gingi to run away. It was then that Gingi realized Shark only agreed to the heist to look out for Gingi, despite never hanging out with him. Shark...was a really good guy, and brave too. He didn't belong with them at all, and he shouldn't have gotten roped in to his bosses' stupid plan! Gingi remembered Cliff Girl, the only person Shark ever agreed to duel with since Gingi met him, and knew what he had to do. 

Soon as he finished explaining to Cliff-no, to Yuma, she ran toward the gallery, leaving Gingi and Yuma's big friend behind.

Meanwhile Kotori was in the library looking through dueling websites. She's not that inundated with dueling like her friends are, but she feels like she has to do something to help Yuma out. The class rep joined her.

"Hey, Kotori..."

"What's up?"

"Why do you think Yuma cares about Shark so much?"

"Because she thinks he's fun to duel."

"But why though!? He's a jerk! He tricked Yuma into using the Numbers just so he can counterattack."

"That's not what happened and you know it."

"I don't. I really don't know it. I don't base my judgment on people based on how good they are at card games, especially not if its him. Do you know why he participated in tournaments but doesn't duel competitively anymore?"

"I've heard rumors, but even if he cheated that wouldn't matter to Yuma. She won't bother to look up his history at all, because she doesn't think its right to look up other people's backgrounds when she hates it when people look up hers."

The class rep winces. Kotori notices this and puts a hand on his shoulder. "I don't blame you for looking her up. It really freaked me out when I heard about it too." The hand on the class reps' shoulder shook a little. "It scares everyone when they hear about it, which is why she doesn't like people knowing about it. But she's not going to hold it against you for knowing so long as you don't spread it around or pity her."

"...It's not pity I feel, its worry."

"That's fair, but she might not be able to tell the difference."

"Yeah...I just wish I could tell her not to hurt herself."

"No point in that. The only people who can stop her is probably her grandma. Her sister could slow her down, but when she wants to do something she'll do it regardless of whether she's capable of it or not."

"But that's going to-!"

"I know! I know, but we can't stop her from doing what she wants. All we can do is support her and make sure she's okay afterwards."

The class rep sighs. "I suppose you're right. Who knows, maybe the Dueling Fairy could help her out more than we can..."

As Kotori and the class rep talked, neither of them notice an article on Kotori's screen titled, "Ryouga Kamishiro Disqualified for Spying on Opponent's Deck: A Rising Star Sinks to the Bottom of the Sea"

* * *

Yuma saw the bosses get out of their motorcycles and head to the front of the museum. She didn't know where else they'd sneak into so she just went with the front, but even she didn't think they'd just try to waltz in! Gingi was right, these bosses are reckless. She quickly snaps a photo of them with the gazer and stuffs the gazer back into her pocket. "Hello~"

"Hmm? Cliff girl," one of them said.

"Feh, way to ruin to mood. Its Yuma. Don't use that name around me."

"Sure kid. Hey its getting late, why don't you mosey along."

"Nope!"

"Really, we're doing this?"

"Yep!"

The boss with the bigger muscles start approaching her until Shark stood in the way. "Just ignore her. She's harmless."

"Oh!" Yuma feels a little embarrassed that she didn't notice he was there. "This isn't to challenge you Shark, so it doesn't count. I just want to duel your bosses!"

"Yes it does! Go away!"

"You go away! This got nothing to do with you!"

"Enough." The skinnier one moves Shark aside. "Look kid, we're busy here. Unless you've got cards on par with ours-" He and the other man hold up their cards. As they held their cards Yuma can see the Numbers on their bodies. "-Don't bother, cuz you're going to lose."

"...Pfft."

"What? You're try to piss us off?"

"You're soooooo sure that so long as you've got those cards you'll win. Please. I know someone who can beat those ones flat!"

"..." Shark turns around so he can pretend to be disinterested in this conversation.

"Anywho those are some neat cards. Convenient too, since I've got an acquaintance looking for those. They want them back."

"..." The bosses put away their cards. "You know what these are?" The skinny one asks.

"Yep!" Yuma pulls out Number 39 - Aspiring Emperor Hope for them to see. "Numbers. Funny rule about them, when both duelist have Numbers on the field, whoever wins will get the loser's Number. I don't have to say anymore do I? You're looking for powerful cards, you know what we have to do right?" She puts on her gazer.

"...Heh." The skinnier one puts on his gazer. "Rikuo, lets add to our collection. The card in the gallery's not going anywhere."

"Gladly, Kaio." The bigger one puts on his own gazer. "Ryouga, get ready."

"Ryouga?" _Why does that name sound so familiar?_

"Excuse me?" Shark backs away from the bosses. They seriously want to make this a three on one?

"No can do fellas! I lost a bet with him, so I'm not allowed to duel him. Why do you need him anyway? Don't tell me you're so scared of me you need three duelists to take me on? I'm not that intimidating am I?" Yuma pretends to look offended.

"Hah! As if!" Kaio sneers. "Looks like you're the one who's scared of 'Shark.'"

"Hmm...I'm not sure I'd say scared, but I do respect Shark a lot more than I do you two. But I suppose I should let Shark play to give you two strong powerful duelists a fighting chance huh?"

"You...!"

"Yuma." Shark walks toward Yuma until they're face to face. "Just go home. This is none of your business."

"Well, how is it any of this your business either? I'm not lying when I say I need those Numbers you know."

"And did you know they had Numbers before you came here?"

"Well uh...no."

"Then why!? Why do you keep showing up in front of me? I'm not a good person. I'm not even a decent person! I broke your most treasured belonging right in front of you! You want to know why I made people bet their whole decks? Because I'm a piece of shit who wanted to make everyone else feel as shitty as I felt! It was all pettiness! I was hopeless, and I wanted to make everyone else hopeless well! And yet-!" He points at Yuma! "You! Why do you keep wanting to duel me? Why do you keep acting like I've done nothing wrong? What is _wrong_ with you!? Find better people to bother and leave me the fuck alone!" By the time he finished yelling his voice was hoarse and he felt awful. Yet Yuma just stood there, unfazed. 

"First of all, I've already told you like a thousand times why I keep showing up. I like you. I think you're an amazing duelist, and really fun. And even if we can't duel it'd be cool if I could get to know you better."

"But I-!"

"Broke things because you were hurt and you wanted others to hurt with you, but you're not that person anymore! I know that, because Gingi told me what you did for him!"

" _What_ did you do for Gingi?" Rikuo asks. Yuma and Shark don't even turn to look at him.

"You're not a hopeless person anymore! You proved that during our duel! You say you've giving up, that you're not a good person, that you're hopeless, but everything you've done recently has proved that wrong! So stop getting stuck in asking why I care so much, and ask yourself how you feel! What do you want? What are you striving for? It certainly can't be to hang out with them right?" She points at the two bosses who looks very agitated yet unwilling to interfere.

"Its not like I have anywhere else to belong to."

"ANOTHER LIE! Be honest with yourself! You really don't think you can't find somewhere else to belong? Or is it that you just don't want to look? I know what you're capable of, its just a matter of whether you start swimming or you drown!" Yuma puts on her duel disk. "I don't know the right words to make you feel better or make you my friend, and I won't try. Its not hard to know how I feel, but whether you want to be my friend or just want me to go away is up to you." She suddenly leans forward. "My sister's a journalist," she whispers. "I took photos of them. If they go through with this I'll send the photos to my sister so you're not framed. So you have the option: stay with those guys or leave. I won't judge you either way." She turns around to face the bosses. "Sorry for the delay there! Ready when you are."

"Yep," Rikuo says.

"Ready," Kaio says. "Ryouga."

Shark looks at Rikuo and Kaio for a second. Then two. Then three. Then he turns around and starts moving.

"Running off. Hmph. Fair enough."

...until he's standing parallel to Yuma. He puts his gazer on.

"Shark?"

"Ryouga," Rikuo says, his voice threatening. "You're on the wrong side bud. Stand next to me or Kaio, or walk away from this. We won't get mad if you leave."

"...You know." Shark puts on his duel disk. "I appreciated you taking me in, but I can't really say I ever respected you. Especially not now."

"Are...are we tag-teaming!?" Yuma grins.

"Stop that." Shark averts eye contact with her as her grin only grows wider. "I'm just tired of these two is all."

"Hmph, wrong choice bud. Looks like we'll just have to wipe the floor with you as well," Kaio says.

"Just try," Shark retorts.

"DUEL!!!"

* * *

Shark pointed at them. "They knew what each other deck order was. They probably rigged the shuffling system in their disks. Those cheaters!"

_What's this? What's this new feeling bubbling up inside of them. These opponents...have no respect for dueling. They're not even worthy of being called duelists! Unforgivable!_

"...Pathetic."

"Excuse me miss? You want to say that to my face," Kaio says.

"Yeah miss, you only say that because you're gonna lose. Don't be so ungracious," Rikuo follows with.

"Okay, I'll say it again. You're pathetic and boring." Yuma waves them away like flies. "I thought it was weird how I don't feel anything about you two at all, but now I see its because you don't put any feeling in dueling at all. What, you just use the same deck order and strategy every single time? That's so dull! You don't change at all." She shrugs. "Why are you even bothering to play duel monsters if you don't like the randomness, the excitement in seeing which cards you'll find in your hand? You should find a better hobby."

"Shut up!" Kaio says. "It works! We win! That's all the matters!"

"And that's supposed to be fun?" Yuma rolls her eyes. "All I see are two cowards who have to go through extreme lengths to cheat because they're not worth shit on their own capabilities. Its embarrassing just looking at you."

"You fuckin' bitch!"

"Kaio!" Rikuo grabs Kaio by the arm. "Stop it, she's just a brat!"

"She has no respect for us at all! Her and that traitor are about to be under our fuckin' boots and she has the fuckin' gall to keep fuckin' trash-talking us like this!"

"You've done nothing to earn her respect," Shark retorts, exhausted from just looking at these cowards. "And if you don't care about cheating and just want to win, why are you getting so upset at her insults hm? You've got quite an ego for people who have no morals."

"Oh yeah, and what have you done to earn her respect huh?" Rikuo removed his hand from Kaio's arm when he seemed to have calmed himself. "We heard what you did, and given how she still defends you against us she must be real forgiving, but I wonder if she knows that you've also cheated? Remember the-" 

"Uh, right here dude. And since you asked I'll answer you. I don't care what you say about Shark because I won't believe you, I don't care that he may have cheated in the past because that has nothing to do with how we interact now, and he's earned my respect because he fucking tries, unlike you two." Yuma turns to Shark. "If you don't want to talk about it you don't have to. I won't listen to a word they say, because its none of their business to talk about your past in the first place!"

"..." Shark finds it well and truly unfair how effected he is by Yuma. She's...she's his friend, and he's hers. There's no denying that anymore. Not that he'll ever say that out loud.

"Tch, how biased. Whatever! We'll be taking that Number now!" Rikuo starts his turn.

* * *

Numbers 19 and 61, Freezadon and Volcasaurus. Astral sees their world being attacked. The beings residing there scream at the sight of the projectiles hitting the world's atmosphere. They're not hurt, but they're very scared. Yet someone is telling them they're not meant to be afraid, but who's telling them? Astral isn't sure if this is a memory, or a premonition. Aside from the memory he attained, he's observed that Yuma can adapt to dueling, and is already improving. Even Shark was impressed enough to let her keep one of his cards. Meanwhile the opponents they defeated woke up and upon seeing Shark fled without Yuma or Shark even noticing, both focused on speaking to one another. Then Yuma puts a hand to her head.

"Ow?"

"Ow? What's wrong?" Shark asks.

"Um...nothing. I think?"

"You think? That doesn't sound convincing."

"Well, its not like anything could be done about it. I already talked to the doctor a couple days ago and he didn't have anything new to say."

"Anything new?"

"Well, I already have to take pills for pain relief daily, and I can't take anymore than I am already because I'm not a grown-up. Usually its fine, but lately its like..." Yuma shuts her eyes. "It's like...a part of my brain's been going on overdrive, burning away without a care. And I don't know what its working for, but its starting to get distracting..." Yuma opens her eyes wide like a fish. "Wait, why am I telling you this? Nevermind! Sorry I don't mean to chew your ear off."

"Could have fooled me."

"Oh please! I'll have you know my friends love when I chew their ears off! Can't get enough!" She giggles, already forgetting her headache. 

"...Mind if I chew your ear off for a sec?"

"Chew away!"

"Lets sit down." Yuma and Shark sits down at one of the benches next to the museum entrance. The cleaner bots always disappear after it gets dark, so its dead silent now. "..."

"..."

"It's true, I really did cheat."

Yuma doesn't respond. She just blinks at him like he just told her he prefers iced coffee over hot coffee.

"I reached the finals of the Duel Champion Tournament last year. I...I absolutely needed to win. I had to!" Sharks hands shake. "I had to."

"..."

"The waiting rooms were separated by bushes. For some reason, there was an opening in the branches. I don't know if the opening was natural, or someone cut away at it on purpose. I saw someone enter and leave my room, and when I turn, I see his cards. Four of them were face-up. I could see what they were from my seat with a single glance." Shark stands up. "And yet, I couldn't stop myself from standing up, and walking closer. They caught that on camera." He slumps back down to the seat. "I was so stupid. I don't know why I thought it was a good idea." He looks at Yuma. "I'm a coward, Yuma. I'm as much a coward as they are. I was scared of losing, and I cheated. I'm never allowed to participate in official tournaments again."

"..."

"Please say something."

"What do you want me to say?"

"Just something!"

"..." Yuma crosses her arms. "I don't know what to say that I haven't said before. Who you were in the past versus who you are now is drastically different." Yuma looks down at her feet. "I'm scared of losing too."

"...Yuma." Shark holds his hands together and puts them over his mouth. "You know that's unbelievable coming from you right?"

"It's true! Maybe I act like I don't care whether I lose or not, but if I didn't care I wouldn't try so hard you know? It's just that usually I lose anyway. I lose when it comes to lots of things, way too many to count. If I stew over my losses I'll feel trapped, which I hate feeling." She looks up at the sky. Sometimes when she's on her rooftop she'll see a constellation or two, but down here all she can see is the colorful glow of the city. "I guess its more apt to say I'm scared of being trapped, because that fear might be what really traps me." She finally looks at Shark again. "You were scared of losing and that led to you losing, and I'm scared of being trapped and that leads me to do stupid stunts that keep me from improving. Its like the harder we try to get away from the things we fear, the easier it is for those fears to catch up to us...Sorry. This isn't really comforting at all is it? I just don't have an answer for how I deal with my own fears, other than to just keep moving."

"..."

"Alright so now its your turn to say something."

"I don't really know what to say."

"Well I didn't either!"

"I don't think you're trapped. You were a lot better in this duel than you were in our last ones. I think its admirable that you can keep moving forward despite that feeling though."

"Well I don't think you're a coward. And you're still moving forward as well! The fact that you decided to duel with me and kept going even after we realized their con is proof of that! You said you gave up, but you didn't! Maybe we can't always push against our fears, but we can still try! And we are! Right at this very moment!"

"..." Shark stands up and walks a few steps. "I'll...talk to you later. See you later." He keeps walking.

 _"See you later." That means he wants to hang out with me!_ "Yeah! See you!"

_"You hear that? Those symphonic wails? Isn't it the most beautiful sound in the world? And they haven't even been hurt yet! Those infants freak out at just seeing the debris color their sky red!"_

_"You like hearing them scream too don't you? Come ooooon don't be shyyyyy."_

_"...HAH! I knew it, I knew it! You can keep lying to yourself, but I can tell! We're like two peas in a pod! Or three, if we're counting the brat."_

_"...You're curious about the brat? Well usually its him I'm talking to, since he's borrowing my power. Don't know if I could get him and you to meet, he's kinda on a tight schedule trying to save our world."_

_"I bet YOU have something to do with it! Come on, spill it, how is it that we're meeting like this? Don't tell me you've got a scheme up your own sleeve? I've already got like three schemes in play so that quota is filled my friend."_

_"...Heh, like you have the foresight to plot something. Nevermind, we've got to plenty of time to figure this out."_

_"This is just the beginning, after all."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh...yeah. First real universe alter is that Rio's not in a coma! And Yuma knows her! She's still stuck in the hospital so she can't do much in this first half, but I wanted to introduce her earlier than she's introduced in the anime. You may have also figured out some of the other universe alters by now, but please at least act surprised when I turn the light on and go "Surprise!" to your face. Six feet away. With masks on. The cake is in to-go boxes for you to take home. Wash your hands first before eating. Have a nice day.
> 
> I didn't expect a lot of traction when it came to this fic, given what it is and what its going to become (I'm making this even more anime than the original and I'm sorry for that) so getting Kudos really brightens my mood. Like fic authors joke about how one Kudos is enough to light cities, but experiencing it first hand its like you can see my face go from '-' to "v". Like a Kudos is somebody forcibly pulling my mouth upwards into a smile and I love it. So thanks for that.
> 
> Now that we're five chapters in I need to figure out what other tags needs to be here. At this point its clear that there's events and themes in here that weren't in the original, but I'm not exactly sure what to call them. I'm not sure if I should just put "hey there's themes of ableism, self-deprecation and unhealthy means of coping to the point of self-destruction in here watch out!" or if I should just go with "angst" and other one-word tags. I just don't want people to think these themes are there because I want to torture my faves, but I do want to acknowledge that there's going to be some downer-town moments, and maybe the things this Yuma went through before and goes through later may hit too close to home for some and they may want to be aware of that heading in.
> 
> Long story short if you think I should add more tags let me know what they are! Alternatively you could just give me goofy suggestions for the tags and I'll add them cuz you're giving me the attention I crave. There's no limit to tags here right?
> 
> Alright I'll let you go now. Thanks for sticking around as always! Take care.


	6. The Screams That Will Save The World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Seizures are briefly discussed in this chapter. A seizure does not occur, but I feel its important to mention this.
> 
> Also, from this point on the accident this Yuma went through will be discussed in more detail, including surgery, hospitalizations, and her symptoms of head trauma and brain damage. I won't ever describe the aftermath in gory detail, nor am I using these themes as elements of horror, but as something that's dealt with day-to-day. If these warnings are insufficient, please let me know and I'll edit these warnings to be more reflective on what's to come.
> 
> ...I know this kinda spoils what's going to happen, but given what I'm doing with this story I feel it'd be inappropriate to not mention this stuff ahead of time. On with the show.

The boy loved to hear their screams. Not because of an inherent sadism or a cruel disposition. No. He loved the screams because it meant he was succeeding. These screams are going to make Dad proud of him.

These screams are going to save the world.

Last week, Yuma was able to visit Rio without Astral since they were in the key. Unfortunately this time Astral is still out when Yuma was heading to the hospital. 

"Where are we going?"

"..." Yuma sighs. "To visit Rio."

"Rio?"

"My friend."

"Ah, I see. Is this her home?" Yuma laughs. Despite their observation that laughter is often an indication of joy, Yuma for some reason does not sound joyful when she laughs.

"No, its not. It's a place for her to recover."

"Recover...does she have broken bones?"

"...I'll tell you what. I talked about you with Rio before, so I'll tell her you're here. I'll ask her about what happened and let her decide whether or not to tell you, but if she doesn't want to talk then don't ask me what happened to her again, because I won't tell you."

"Understood."

Reaching her room Rio once again calls out to her. "Yuma. It has been...so long...cough cough."

"Oh har har Rio. You look good today." She pulls up the only chair in the room and sits next to Rio.

"So do you!" She giggles.

"Yuma, I believe she's lying. Humans need their eyes to be visible in order to see. Hers are covered."

"...So um, remember when I told you about Astral?"

"Are they here?"

"Yep."

"Where are they in relation to me?"

"Um, on the right side of the bed, next to where I'm sitting. Your right I mean...no wait! I meant your left. Sorry. Yeah right there!"

When Rio finally turns to the correct direction she says, "It's nice to meet you, Astral! I'm Rio Kamishiro, at your service. I'd serve you one of my signature iced soda teas, but unfortunately I have to put that business on hold. Along with everything else, I'm afraid to say."

"...! It's...nice to meet you too, Rio Kamishiro. I'm sorry for accusing you of being a liar."

"They say its nice to meet you too. Do you mind if they tag along with me?"

"Not at all! It's not every day I get to meet a fairy from another world! Usually I only see one at the last Sunday of every month."

"Don't compare me to them! I'm as-as normal as the moon in the sky!"

"Suuuuure..."

"Riooooo..."

"She's so kind..."

"Pfft, you're only saying that because she called you a fairy."

"What did they say?"

"That you're kind."

"Ah, what a wise fairy..."

"She knows that I'm wise. She's smart."

"Yeah yeah..."

"Can I ask what happened to you?"

Yuma realizes too late that she now has to play interpreter for Astral. "Astral wants to know what happened to you."

"..."

"You don't have to answer Rio. They don't have to know for any particular reason. They're just very nosy."

"What does my nose have to do with asking why she is recovering?"

"No its fine. I'm just trying to figure out how to explain it." She reaches for her cup and takes a sip out of it. "There was...hmm...it was an accident, so it really wasn't his fault! Just...okay, so I was in the middle of this duel with this duelist right? I don't like to brag, but I'm a pretty popular duelist in the competitive fields, so I often get challenged a lot. So I treated it like any other duel, until...I don't know how to describe it, but one of his cards...caused a real explosion. It was, well, I can't say it felt great, since the explosion happened when the card attacked the monster right in front of me. Luckily the other duelist pulled me out of the fire before I...uh, anyway it was a miracle I survived. Though you should have seen me right after the explosion Astral. Most of my...well, anyway long story short I received a lot of burns and so I've been through a lot of surgeries to recover most of what burned away." She pulls at the sleeve of her gown. "See? Good as new! The only problem is that they can only do one part at a time, because afterwards the part they operate on feels like its on fire all over again. It also takes a long time to schedule the next operation, especially with these puppies." She points to her eyes. "Apparently I can't have my eye surgery until a specialist returns from outside the city. So, another couple of months of waiting for me."

"And what do you do during this wait?"

"They're asking what you do while waiting." Yuma leans her head against her hands. "I can answer this. Absolutely nothing."

"Not true! There's plenty to do! I get to watch a lot of tv, although they don't have the channel that airs Different Dimensions ESPer Robin, but they do have a show dedicated to people describing their dogs which is cute. There's also plenty of sports shows. Whenever a big soccer game comes on you can hear it from my neighbors across the hall there. I'm still sent lessons from my teachers so I'm not too far behind at school. I learned braille, so I can read books now, although its takes me a long time to read. Admittedly I could just listen to the audio, but I missed feeling the thing in my hands. The one I'm currently reading is about an alien who falls in love with a human, turning against her own kind to save her girlfriend's planet."

"How cliche."

"Not cliche, romantic! RO-MAN-TIC!" She grabs her cup again and takes a few gulps. "Recently I got my legs patched up, so I can start walking again. Although, most of the time all I can do is stand up for a couple of seconds, but that's progress! Sometimes if I'm feeling real confident I can get from the bed to the bathroom by myself."

"That's great!"

"Yep. I also have a very good friend who visits me at least once a month, so I always have something to look forward to."

Rio's sudden compliment heats up Yuma's face. "I-It's not a big deal."

"No. It is. I'm glad that someone is out there thinking about me, Yuma."

"Well yeah...when I had that breakdown and didn't want to talk to anyone else about it, you were there for me. It's the least I can do."

"Breakdown?"

"Besides! Its not like I'm the only one thinking about you! You have your brother after all."

"Hmmm...do I?" Rio turns her head toward the door. "Sometimes I wonder. I can count the times he's walked in and looked at me silently before walking out on the back of my hand. I don't think he's so much as said 'hello' to me." She leans her head against the pillow. "You'd think that because we're twins we could read each other's mind or something, but its like the longer I'm here the harder it is to reach him." She sighs. "I just hope you're doing okay...brother."

"Brother."

"Good morning, Haruto. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine..."

"Good. That's good!" His brother crouches down in front of him and embraces him. He does this every morning before he leaves. Haruto doesn't understand why his brother clings to him like Haruto's about to fall through the floor. He wishes he'd stop worrying.

"Are you going hunting?"

"Ah...yes, I am. Where did you hear that from?"

"From Mr. Heartland. What is it that you're hunting?"

"...You don't need to worry about it." His brother pats his head before standing up. "I'll see you tonight. Don't forget to eat breakfast, okay?"

"I won't."

"Good. I'll be back." Before going to the elevator floor that'll take him out of his room, his brother hesitates, then he says, "I'm going to save you Haruto. I swear it." Then he's gone.

His brother often tells him that. Sometimes the words are different, but the meaning is the same. Haruto doesn't understand why he says such things. He's not the one who needs to be saved. The world needs to be saved. Dad even says that once the world is saved, he and his brother can play together like they used to. Yet his brother doesn't seem to care about what his role is, and is sometimes even scared of him. It makes Haruto think that his brother actually dislikes him, which makes him sad. Even Dad sometimes looks sad when he talks to Haruto. Dad at least tells him how proud he is of him, which his brother never does.

Well, its not important. He turns to look out the window. He sees the bright sky, and the people below setting up their shops and preparing the amusement rides. The cleaner bots start their rounds, already seeing bits and pieces of garbage to clean. Haruto doesn't need any of this. He needs to hear the screams.

"Sun...hurry. Hurry and fall out of the sky, so I continue my work. I need to hear them scream..."

"Yuma."

"Y-yeah?"

"Do you remember what I told you at the mall?"

"..."

"Well?"

"Y-you might have said...to get out of harms way."

"Oh no I _absolutely_ told you to get out of harms way. There is no 'might' in the order I gave you."

"You also told Kotori to take photos."

"Don't change the subject. Now..." Akari finally points to one of the many screens in her office that features Yuma kicking a security guard in the face and then jumping over a bunch of other guards and running away.

"The guard mistook the girl as an associate to the hostage-taker and attempted to apprehend her, when the middle-schooler kicked the guard away, dislocating his jaw in the process. When the other guards pursued her she quickly fled the scene. Later it was revealed that the girl was uninvolved with the hostage-taker and was only an unfortunate bystander. Her guardian has been contacted and made aware of the situation, but she will not be charged by the security guard. Currently we still have no word as to why the hostage-taker suddenly collapsed."

"Explain to me...how this is you 'getting out of harms way?'"

"..."

"Yuma!"

"L-look it's not like I got hurt or anything!"

"YUMA YOU CAN'T KEEP FUCKING DOING THIS!" Akari slams her hands on the desk and stands up. "How many times are you going to put yourself in danger!? How many!? I swear you've gotten more scars and bruises from doing these ridiculous stunts than-why can't you just be safe!? Do you really think you're immortal now that you recovered? You think that every time you get hurt that you'll be able to get back like its-"

"I KNOW! I know. But it's my body and I do what I want with it! It has nothing to do with you whether I get hurt or not, so you don't have to act so uppity about it."

"Nothing to-Yuma I'm your sister! We're family! Of course it has something to do with me!" Akari turns around to face Yuma, tears in her eyes. "I'm supposed to take care of you, and I don't want to lose you too. What would Mom and Dad think if-" Akari stops herself. She shouldn't have mentioned her parents.

"I wouldn't know what Mom and Dad would think, because they're gone! I don't-If they want to tell me how I should act, they should come back and tell me themselves!" Yuma's had enough. She's heard this scolding from Akari so many times she's lost count. This time wasn't even her fault! It's because Astral saw that the hostage-taker had a Number, but then by the time she reached him he was on the floor, looking really old and frail. Then there was the time-pausing thing, which Yuma still can't wrap her head around. Bottom-line is, its unfair for Yuma to be scolded like this! "I'm going to my room!"

"Yuma I'm not done-" Too late. Yuma crashes through the door and is running up to her room. "Argh!" She slumps back to her seat. "Mom, what are the right words to say to make her take care of herself better? Because I don't know what to do...I don't know what to do."

* * *

"Merp."

"That's right! She's definitely overreacting, and its not even my fault this time!"

"Merp mer."

"You know just what to say Merp."

Yuma looks at the sky above her, Merp purring on her stomach. From the rooftop, she can start to see the stars fight against the colorful lights of the city. The headache's back again, gnawing at her skull, but its so frequent now that she doesn't pay it any mind. It's starting to occur at the same time every night, and then disappear by morning, so at least she can figure when it'll happen and when it'll go away.

"Why don't you tell her about the Numbers?"

"I already told you she doesn't allow me to duel. Plus she probably already thinks I'm crazy..."

"Crazy?"

"Out of my mind."

"Your mind leaves your body? Or does your body somehow leave your mind?"

"I mean...ugh why is everything so literal with you?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know any other way."

"...Yeah, its not your fault." Yuma scratches Merp's head, making him run like an engine. "Saying stuff like how I'm crazy or out of my mind isn't that helpful anyway."

"Is it like like when you're called, 'a freak?'"

"Exactly."

"Then why would your own sister think you are 'crazy' if its such an insult?"

"She probably wouldn't say the word 'crazy.' She'd put it a lot nicer, like saying I'm 'in need of help' or I 'have unhealthy habits' or maybe just that I 'need someone to talk to about my problems.'"

"Those sound reasonable enough."

"Yeah but its all just another way of calling me crazy. Its all the same."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do." Merp suddenly puts a paw to her nose. "Is that your way of telling me to stop complaining?"

"Merp."

"Oh alright." Merp kneads at her chest, content. Yuma sees more and more stars brighten the night sky, until they're almost as bright as the city lights. Yuma can't recall ever seeing lights in the city that were empty of color. Even the hospital looks like an amusement park, although its a lot calmer on the inside than other public places like the mall or the candy shop. "Did I ever tell you I met the guy who built this city?"

"...! You're telling me one man built this city?"

"Well, not built by hand. I've seen pictures of him helping to build it with a bunch of other people, but what I meant was he planned out this city. Had a blueprint of where all the building would go and how it would be run and everything."

"What was his goal?"

"Um, to make Heartland City?"

"Yes but what compelled him to decide to make Heartland City in the first place?"

"Because it was his dream."

"His dream?"

"Yep! He told me himself when we met. Well, not in person, on a mobile. Anyway I thought he visited me because of pity or some sort of obligation, but it turns out he knew Dad...anyway while he was talking to me he told me his dream was 'to make a world where all children could smile and laugh to their hearts' content.' Apparently before Heartland City there was very few places where children could be safe. Grandma even told me her and Grandpa's childhood home no longer exists now. So he decided that if the world couldn't provide kids a happy place he'll make one himself. And he did!" Yuma smiles. "Isn't that amazing! That you can have a dream and actually be able to achieve it. Seeing these bright lights and fun rides makes me believe that somehow I'll be able to succeed. I mean, this can't be his first attempt right? He must have kept trying and trying 'til he made a breakthrough. And it worked! Now whenever you get closer to the center of the city, you can always hear children's laughter in the air..."

* * *

"Why do I hear laughter? I don't need laughter. I need screams. I want to get back to work so I can hear the screams again..."

"Haruto..."

"Brother, do you hate me? You don't have to visit me if you don't want to."

"No! No, of course I don't hate you. I'm just worried."

"Worried? Do you think I'll get sick again? I'm feeling fine now. I just can't feel happy with laughter. I need the screams. Is that wrong?"

"...Haruto, this is all a bad dream. All a bad dream."

"A bad dream...?"

"Yes, Haruto. And soon, I'm going to wake you from this nightmare! I promise...I promise."

* * *

It appears that Yuma didn't even notice the older boy who crashed through the rooftop. He must be the one who stole the Number from the hostage-taker. No, he did something worse than that. Despite the hostage-taker still breathing, he looked...lifeless. Astral wanted to ask Yuma how she sees this changing situation. Astral doesn't know how to describe the feelings they have of this uncertainty of the future. Yet that feeling and his questions washed away from their mind when Yuma mentioned the creator of Heartland City and his dream. Astral wonders if they had dreams as well.

Yuma mentioned dreaming in her sleep, but it must be a different sort of dream. There are dreams that are like strong goals and then there are dreams that visit when humans sleep. Perhaps Yuma is dreaming now. She stopped snoring and is once again completely still. Sometimes her breadth become so slow Astral worries that she'll stop altogether. Astral's not sure if the dreams she has in her sleep are positive. These dreams may have caused the bags under her eyes to be permanent. Yuma still doesn't know what the dreams are. Hopefully they will not do anything damaging.

...Again, the uncertainty of their future looms on Astral's mind.

* * *

"Bye Grandma!"

"Where are you off to today young lady?"

"I'm going to the neighboring suburb to-" _Shit, Akari's still here!_ "-um...s-soccer-ing...yeah."

"There's a soccer game? Isn't your friend into soccer?" Akari doesn't turn around from drinking coffee at the counter. Its two in the afternoon.

"Uh yeah. She's really good at a bunch of sports."

"Unlike you."

"Hey!"

"Have fun Yuma." She takes another sip.

"...Yeah. See you!"

There she goes, running out of the house without a care. Akari can only imagine how she'll get hurt through a soccer match. Maybe she'll forgo the soccer-ball entirely and try to throw herself into the net. Probably won't be able to get a goal that way either, but at the end of the day she'll come home with a smile on her face telling Grandma how fun it was.

...That is, if she's actually going to play soccer in the neighboring suburb. Akari's too tired to worry if she's actually dueling or not. She takes another sip. Its bitter. 

"Akari." Grandma pulls the cup out of Akari's hands. "Perhaps its time you stop drinking caffeine when the morning's already made its rounds."

"Give it back. I'm going out to sleuth." She takes the cup back without any resistance. "Besides, I'm not fifteen anymore. I can make my own choices. I know what I'm doing."

"Do you now?"

"..." This coffee is somehow tasting worse and worse with each sip.

"You shouldn't be forced to grow up so fast. I certainly didn't feel like I grew up at your age." Grandma puts a hand on Akari's shoulder. "Just because you're the Lady of this house doesn't mean you have to carry all of our burdens. If you need to give Yuma a scolding without becoming the villain, I'm willing to take your place. You don't have to go through this alone. I want her to be safe too."

"...Hmph." She gulps down the rest of the coffee. She'll have to pick better coffee next time she goes shopping. "As if Yuma would ever see you as a villain. Gotta go catch the scoop. Bye."

"Alright Akari. Stay safe out there. It might rain today...oh dear I should have warned Yuma about that."

* * *

"That was great! I was so close too!" Yuma was practically skipping down the sidewalk with Kotori.

"So close, yet so far," Kotori teased.

"Hey hey! Still closer than I've been before on my own! Maybe I'm actually improving?"

"You are."

"I wouldn't really know, since I don't duel, but you're acting a lot more confidant."

"I'm always confidant!"

"Sure." Kotori doesn't mention that usually when Yuma duels she's either excited or reckless, but rarely does she ever seem confident with what she's doing. Now at least she acts more certain with her moves...even if those moves are still lacking in foresight.

"Oh sh-we should have invited Cat to duel with us!" Yuma smacks her head. "She's a really good duelist too!"

"...Have you been talking to her lately?"

"Well, not much. She doesn't really approach me other than to say 'hello' and then scurry away. I want to duel her more often, but I feel like if I push too hard I'll scare her away, you know?"

"It seems like she...nevermind." Kotori sort of wants to know Cathy better too, but Cathy doesn't seem to like Kotori at all. She can't help but feel like Cathy is jealous of Kotori. She might even be Yuma's admirer who gave her those fancy lunches! She doesn't know why, but thinking that someone else likes Yuma makes her feel a bit bitter. She doesn't duel at all, so she can never connect with Yuma in the way everyone who duels can. Maybe the only reason Yuma's friends with her is because...

"Hmm? Seems like she what? What do you mean? Don't leave me hanging!"

"Do you want to go shopping?"

"For what?"

"Better clothes for you."

"What do you mean 'better clothes?' I dress great you know! I'm like at the height of fashion"

Astral hears something above them. They look up at the cloudy sky. They could have sworn they saw what looked like a large bird flying by. It reminds them of the older boy who fell through the rooftop. "Yuma, be careful."

"Are you now?"

"Sure am-!"

"Yuma!"

"W-what? Why are you acting so nervous?"

"That boy could be nearby."

"Who?"

"The boy who stole the Number! He could be coming to take ours! Be on your guard."

"So? I'm sure you can-" Yuma feels something wet fall onto her hair. "Oh great. Kotori lets get out of the rain!" She runs to the end of the block. Luckily the light just turned green for pedestrians, so she quickly runs across. As she turns around to egg Kotori on to move faster...she sees a truck rushing toward the stoplight. 

Its not slowing down. 

"KOTORI RUN BACK!"

Too late. Kotori sees the truck coming but doesn't move. 

"KOTORI!" Yuma runs back across the road and slams herself against her, pushing Kotori back to the sidewalk, leaving Yuma to face the truck.

The truck coming closer and closer, ready to slam against her...

Reminds her of the fall that ruined her life, five years ago...

The ground running closer and closer toward her...

Down...

Down...

Down...

Kotori doesn't have time to react before her best friend slams into her, taking her place to be run over. She falls to the sidewalk and slowly staggers her way up, hoping when she turns around she won't find her the worst. "Yuma!" She turns around. She's not on the road. The truck didn't even pause as it sped on through. "Yuma..." Then she looks down and sees Yuma on the ground right in front of her. How-?

"Yuma!" She kneels down onto the soaked ground to check on her. Thank god...thank god she wasn't run over! But why isn't she moving? "Yuma! Please get up! If you can hear me, please...please move? Yuma!" What can she do? What can Kotori do to help Yuma? Her head's going numb, and she can no longer think clearly. "Yuma...please." Her eyes started to water. Not again. Not again!

...The rain stopped.

"Huh?" Kotori looks up. No, the rain hasn't stopped, a young man was kind enough to hold an umbrella for her and Yuma. "T-thank you..."

"Check to see if she's breathing," the man says.

"R-right!" The man's brisk suggestion clears away the dread growing inside her. Kotori doesn't have time to be afraid! She puts her ear against Yuma's chest. She's still breathing. She checks her pulse. Her pulse sounds normal. 

"It looks like she's stable. Call the emergency services. I'll hold Orbital over her head until they arrive."

"Orbital?"

"My umbrella."

"Hmph! I am not _just_ an umbrella!" The umbrella spoke. Kotori does not have time to act shocked at this point. "I'll have you know I'm _much_ more than-"

"Hurry and call the services. I could also have Orbital call if you don't know what to say."

"Wait why should _I_ be the one calling-"

"D-don't..."

"Yuma!" Kotori turns Yuma's head to face her. Yuma's eyes flicker, but they can't seem to stay open.

"J-just call...my sis..."

"Your sister?" The young man flinches.

"O-okay!" Kotori pulls out her gazer. Luckily she already has Akari's contact info on her gazer, since Akari often asks her to do favors. 

* * *

Ten minutes later, Akari parks on the side of the road and runs toward them with an umbrella in her hand. Kotori explained to her what happened during the call, so she already knows that Yuma was almost run over, and is furious. Its not enough that Yuma hurts herself all the time, now it seems like the world is out to hurt her. "How is she!?"

"She's stable. Yuma, can you hear me?" Kotori has Yuma's head resting in her lap. The young man kept his word and continued to hold his weird robot umbrella above them.

"Y-yeah...can't...really............m-move. Sorry..." Her voice sounds hoarse and raspy.

"Stop talking. Let's get you home for now. I've called the doctor and he'll pay us a visit tomorrow."

"B-boooooo..."

"Oh so you're well enough to complain huh? Kotori hold this." Akari hands Kotori her umbrella and scoops Yuma into her arms. The young man backs away. "Geez why do kids have to get heavier and heavier the more they grow? Gonna have a crooked back at the ripe old age of twenty."

"S-sorry..."

"Upupup! I said stop talking."

"I don't know...what happened..."

"What happened is you escaped death again. Some truck-driving asshole almost ran you over and you dodged it in the nick of time, and that might have caused you to have a seizure."

"Seizure!?" Kotori almost drops the umbrella. "No way! She just...I don't know what happened, but she wasn't shaking or anything, she just passed out for a few minutes!"

"A few...Yuma we're going to the hospital."

"N-No! I'm f-f-fine! I don't...I don't get seizures!"

"No buts Yuma! I know you 'don't get seizures' which means if what happened to you was a seizure and it caused you to pass out for more than a minute we need to find out what happened _now_. Kotori, open the door." 

"Right..." 

"S-sis..." Yuma with a lot of effort moves her arms to tug at the collar of Akari's vest. 

"...!"

"P-please don't take me there. We can...we can wait until tomorrow. Please...I don't want to back to the hospital...I don't want to be trapped there. Please...j-just take me home...please..." 

Yuma's tears were rolling down her cheeks. She was already soaked from the rain. Akari can recall a million times when Yuma acted defiant against her lot in life, who's willing to break skin and bone before she admits she needs help. Rarely can she ever recall Yuma acting so openly sad and afraid. Not in front of her at the very least. She sighs. "Alright." She gently places Yuma into the back seat of her car. "Kotori, do you want to stay with Yuma a little longer? I'll take you home."

"Of course!" Kotori hands back Akari's umbrella and runs to the other side of the car to sit next to Yuma. 

"K-Kotori...can I...lean against you?"

Kotori blushes but violently shakes her head. Now's not the time to muse about this! "Y-yeah sure."

"Thanks..." Yuma puts her head on Kotori's shoulders. She falls asleep.

As Akari's about to enter the driver's seat she turns around the meet the eyes of the young man who didn't move at all since she arrived. "Can I help you? Were you just enjoying this soap opera of ours?"

"Soap opera...?" The young man's never heard of the term "soap opera" before. Though her question makes him realize what he's doing. Why did he stay? He doesn't know. Something in how Akari treats Yuma strikes him.

"Such arrogance! I'll have you know that Master Kaito was merciful enough to assist the scary girl and her nice friend! And this is how you-"

"Orbital!"

"Sorry..."

"Kaito?" Akari strides toward Kaito, causing him to stagger back a little. "You're Kaito Tenjou?"

"...I am."

"..." Akari squints at him and crosses her arms. "Kaito Tenjou. What a coincidence that its you crossing paths with my sister. Or perhaps its fate." She holds her hand out in front of her. "Akari Tsukumo. Pleasure."

"..." Kaito takes her hand and they shake. Akari's grip is tight. 

"Does the name 'Kazuma Tsukumo' ring a bell for you buddy?"

"...? No, it doesn't."

"...Hmph. You don't look like you're lying." Akari can't help but feel a bit dissapointed, but she can't stay to pry any longer. She pulls out one of her cards. "I'm a journalist, so I'd be very interested in hearing about you. Your old man's always conveniently too busy to talk to me."

"...!" Kaito takes her card. His father never goes by his surname. How did she know...?

"Let's _chat_ sometime, mkay?" With that, Akari gets in her car and drives off.

"...She's almost as scary as the scary girl!"

"Orbital."

"Yes my lord?"

"Motorcycle mode."

"On it!" Orbital was more than happy to transform into something cooler than a ridiculous umbrella.

_"I'm sorry."_

_"I know, you must find it ludicrous at this point when we say, 'there's nothing we can do' when it comes to your situation. You've already defied expectations so many times. You're a survivor, and you've proved that to us over and over again."_

_"But we can't give you false hope, Yuma. We can only depend on our current knowledge and expertise, not on hunches or miracles, no matter how frequent they've been."_

_"Yuma, you...you probably won't get them back. There are just some things that won't return to you."_

_"...I'm sorry."_

When Yuma came to, she was tucked in bed in her room. It's dark, so it must be nighttime. She didn't dream this time. Instead, she recalled a memory. A horrible, _horrible_ memory. She looks around. She can't see anything, except Astral's back. Their light doesn't seem as vibrant as it usually is. "Astral?"

They flinch, but don't turn around.

"Are you mad at me?"

"No, I'm not mad at you."

"Then why are you avoiding me?"

"...Because I'm ashamed of myself."

"Where did you hear that expression? Why would you be ashamed?" Yuma tries to sit up, but in the process felt nauseous and dizzy. "Bleh." She lies back down. "This isn't your fault, so I don't see why you need to be ashamed. I don't know why I collapsed like that."

"..."

"I'm glad Kotori was there to call Akari. It'd suck to get stuck at the hospital again. Rio can act so blase about being stuck there, but that's only because she's a good patient. I'm not. I hate it there! No matter how nice it looks or how kind the nurses are, I just hate it there. I'd much rather be a visitor than a patient."

"...You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"The reason why you collapsed."

"I-I just said I didn't?"

"Yuma."

"W-What?"

"How much do you remember?"

"Uh...I was crossing the street, when a truck was speeding through a red-light. It was going to run over Kotori, so I pushed her out of the way. Then I..." She puts a hand on her head. Her hair is damp. "I...f-fell. To the ground. When I came to, Kotori was crying over me. I think some guy was nice enough to hold an umbrella over us and calmed her down, but I couldn't really see anything. It was like my eyes were glued shut. Then she almost call the emergency services, and I stopped her. Akari came by and then she almost sent me to the hospital, but she changed her mind. After she put me in the car I fell asleep."

"...I'm sorry."

"What are you-"

"If I was a better duelist, you wouldn't have ended up like this." Astral's body seems to flicker with their emotional state. "You trusted me to find a way to win, and I failed you."

"Win what-Astral." This time Yuma forces herself to sit up, nausea following her. " _Astral_ , turn around and tell me what happened."

"..." 

Hesitantly, Astral turns around to face her. She's never seen Astral look so distressed before. "What did I forget?"

"...After you pushed Kotori out of the way, time stopped."

* * *

When Kaito returned to check on his little brother, he was sobbing. "Haruto!" He runs over to him and quickly kneels down in front of him. "What's wrong!? Are you hurt? Did someone hurt you? Are you in any pain?"

"N-no!" Haruto sniffles. "I-I'm not hurt. I'm never in any pain, b-but that's because...hic. I-I made her scream."

All the blood in Kaito's face seems to vanish. "Who?"

"I MADE HER SCREAM!" Haruto starts wailing. "I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to make her scream! It's all my fault. Their screams are going to save the world, but somehow I was hearing _her_ screams instead! What good is her screams!?" Haruto plugs his ears. "I don't want to hear her in pain! Make it stop. MAKE IT STOP!"

"Haruto!" Kaito pulls him into a hug. "It's okay! She's going to be okay! She stopped screaming, alright! You don't have to hear her screams anymore. It's okay...it's going to be okay. Shhhh...shhhh..."

Haruto's wails grow softer and softer, until he only lets out a few sniffles. Finally he puts his small arms around Kaito's back, returning the hug. Kaito can't remember him ever returning his hugs since he was taken away all those years ago. "Okay...you're right. She stopped screaming." Haruto now sounds eerily calm, as he usually sounds. "But if I use my powers now, she'll scream again, and I don't want that. I won't use my powers until I know I won't make her scream. Dad agrees."

"Dad...agrees?"

"Yeah. He doesn't want her to be hurt either, so I'm not going to use my powers until he can figure out how to help her too."

"...Haruto." Kaito releases him. "Who are you talking about?" Since when has Dr. Faker cared for anyone except himself? How was Haruto able to meet with anyone except his family and Mr. Heartland?

"..." Haruto puts a hand under his chin.

"Do you not know her name?"

"..." Haruto holds out his hand. Kaito takes it. "Kattobingu."

"Katto...bingu?"

* * *

"When time paused, I heard whistling. It was from him, the older boy who stole the Number. Kaito Tenjou, the Numbers Hunter."

Kaito Tenjou sat at his desk, unwilling to rest for the night at this moment. He has a lot to think about. That girl...Yuma Tsukumo. "Kattobingu...what does that mean?"

"As far I can tell, 'kattobingu' is not a real word. I don't understand how Young Master Haruto could learn such nonsense," Orbital stands next to Kaito. "Although if that scary girl is who the Young Master is talking about, then I bet she'd be the type to make up a silly word like that! She's a bad influence. Really my lord we should have just-"

"Orbital."

"...Ah, you're about to tell me to shut up aren't you? Say no more, Master Kaito." Orbital proceeds to zip his nonexistent lips shut to please his lord.

Kaito returns to staring off into nothing. This should have been like every other time he's hunted a Number, and yet everything about this hunt was abnormal. As a Number Hunter, he's already acquired eleven Numbers, so he's used to how this goes. He finds the Number-holder, pauses time, duels them, wins. He then uses Photon Arm to take their Number...along with their soul. Mr. Heartland says that the soul-taking is an unfortunate side-effect, but since those possessed by Numbers were inherently evil there's no real harm.

This encounter with Yuma Tsukumo tore this routine apart, making Kaito even less comfortable with this duty he's tasked with. He can't even say this is to save his brother, given that Mr. Heartland might in fact be lying to him, not to mention the fact that his brother somehow knows one of his targets.

"Let's start from the beginning..."

Orbital unzips his metaphorical mouth. "May I ask what you mean by the beginning?"

"Of the encounter with Yuma Tsukumo."

"Oh! Would you like me to display the record of your duel with her?"

"Please."

"Happy to be of service Master-"

"Just show the footage."

"Okay." Orbital displays the video onto Kaito's wall.

"As he moved closer and closer, I tried calling out to you, but you didn't answer. It was only when Kaito cried out, causing the frozen raindrops to scatter away, that you staggered and turned around. You looked confused. I tried to tell you to run from the Numbers Hunter, but again, you didn't answer. He used a device on his wrist to place a red rope onto yours, which can only be removed when there is a conclusion to a duel. You still looked dazed. Finally he challenged you to a duel, and it was at that moment that you came to your senses. You agreed. Of course, you would have agreed to it even if we were not forced to..."

When he found her, he planned to duel her once she was alone, but then he was forced to use Orbital's power to pause time when he realized that she might be killed. Time paused in the nick of time, but perhaps her seeing how close death was caused a shock to her system. She didn't react as he whistled, a habit he made to calm himself before committing to this act. It was only when he scattered the rain away that she moved, but her eyes were clouded over. If she had stayed in that state when he dueled her, he's certain he wouldn't have been able to to take her soul. Kaito has justified his taking of souls because he at least fights them under level circumstances and with honor.

Luckily, the moment he directly challenged her, her eyes clear up and she agrees wholeheartedly. The duel should have then proceeded the way his previous duels proceeded. It didn't.

"From the start, the Numbers Hunter displayed amazing skill. His capabilities outmatched any of our previous opponents by miles. Even you could understand this, and that lead you to take him as seriously as I took him. However, as the duel progressed, and our points were slowly dwindling, you started to get upset. Not just at being unable to compete with the Numbers Hunter, but at me. You despaired that you didn't want to be at fault if I disappeared. You asked how can I be so calm in the face of disappearing, but I didn't know what else to feel."

For one, as she was dueling him, she spoke with something he could not see. Whatever and whoever it was she was speaking to seemed to be guiding her. As he was winning the duel his opponent's main fear was that if she lost "they" would disappear. Could it be her Number? Was she thinking of the Number as her friend? He's never seen that happen with his previous hunts, but then again the Numbers affected those they posses in oftentimes drastically different ways, so maybe its not so unusual. Still, the girl's concern was sincere, and she looked genuinely upset at the idea of losing her...friend.

"Then Orbital 7...oh, Orbital 7 was a robot who was assisting the Numbers Hunter. It could transform itself into wings for the Hunter to fly and into an umbrella...I'm getting ahead of myself. Orbital was encouraging the Hunter, and in that encouragement, mentioned that you'd lose your soul...the Hunter chastised Orbital, apparently against the idea of instilling fear in his opponents. You asked what Orbital meant by 'losing your soul' and he answered that the only way to obtain the Numbers is to take the soul possessed by said Numbers. He doesn't know where the souls go, as that would distract from his duty."

Then as he was near victory, Orbital couldn't help but gloat. He doesn't know where Orbital got such a personality trait, but its not helpful in his battles. Because of his gloating the girl discovered her fate. Kaito, not wanting to leave things half explained, told her the whole truth. This lead to the girl going from tenacious and yet doubtful, to furious and vengeful.

"The fact that you'd lose your soul may have caused you to be afraid, and yet the main expression you had was...fury. I've never seen you so angry before, not with such clarity. You cried out the Hunter's cowardice for not putting his own soul on the line, asking why he is doing such a thing. When he doesn't answer you declared him a fool, that your soul can't be so easily taken, and you'll give him hell for trying." 

_"Do you think that souls are easy to take without consequence? Or is it because its not your soul that's on the line? Tell me why you're doing this!"_

_"...You're not going to answer? Usually I'd agree that its none of my business, but not when my soul is on the line! So tell me! Tell me why I should lose my soul over this?"_

_"You won't tell me? Because its too difficult, or because you don't care?"_

_"You said that it would 'distract' you to question where the souls go once they're taken? How comforting it must be to not have to worry for other people. Oh, or is it because it might hurt to realize your actions are wrong? Does it only take two seconds of thinking for you to be trapped still in your own self-loathing? If so, then you are not only a coward but a fool. I thought your dueling was a brilliant sight to see, so perhaps there is something in you still, but your dueling means nothing to me in the face of how despicable you are! I'm disgusted just looking at you."_

The girl began insulting him profusely, calling him a coward and a fool. She's not wrong. Orbital tried to defend him, but Kaito began to notice something strange happening to Orbital. As the girl's voice grew louder and louder, Orbital began to rattle, his voice shaking. He's a robot! How did he make his voice shake? Kaito never installed a voice box that would cause Orbital to stutter.

_"How dare you insult Master Kaito. He is a-"_

_"Shut UP!"_

_"A-Agh! Wh-wh-wh-wh-what are you-!? You s-s-s-scary girl. Master Kaito, take her soul before she hurts you! H-h-h-hur-!"_

_"I don't care what your 'Master Kaito' is like at any other moment then when he's facing me. My soul is going to be stolen from me for reasons I don't know! You! Do you even know my name? Do you bother to know any of the souls you've taken from? I won't let you take my soul cleanly. Yuma Tsukumo. I want you to remember my name. I want you to remember my face as you steal other souls, because it doesn't matter if you dueled them first, you're a thief. I want you to remember what you've done to me, and most importantly, I want you to remember that question you so casually dismissed. 'What happens to me after my soul is gone?' Because whatever happens to me will be your fault."_

Then she called out to her friend, who's name is "Astral." It is when she calls out their name that Kaito realizes that the girl may not be possessed by a Number, but is in fact a Numbers Hunter herself, who's able to communicate with one of her Numbers. She must have discovered a way to take the Numbers without taking their soul. Perhaps if he didn't tell her his method of taking the cards she would have been willing to explain her own methods, but given the loathing in her eyes it's probably too late to form an alliance with her. 

"You then asked if I still have a path to victory." 

_"Astral, if it were just my soul, I would not go down quietly. I can't accept disappearing peacefully like you can. But its not just my soul, but your existence as well, so I can't do whatever I please. I don't understand how you can be so calm at this travesty! Tell me if you've accepted this lose, because in that case I'm going down how I choose to! Agh!"_

"As you were yelling at me you suddenly bent your head downwards, as if you were in pain."

As she was attempting to convince "Astral" to join in her fury, she suddenly bends her head down in pain. 

_"I'm fine! Just answer me, Astral! Do we have a chance, or have you given up? Tell me whether or not I have permission to do what I please!"_

"I said...I said to keep a clear head, and that we still have a chance...I was wrong."

_"Then we'll continue, until the very end!"_

After that Yuma began to fight more viciously, with the help of "Astral." It was a valiant effort, but a futile one. In the end he was still able to best her.

"The Numbers Hunter...is a better duelist than me. I wasn't able to best him. We lost. I was going to disappear, and you were going to lose your soul."

Then, as he was about to make the final move that would have sealed his victory...she dropped the cards she was holding. She bent down to pick it up. She couldn't get back up.

_"W-why can't I...A-Aaaagh..."_

She dropped the cards again. She didn't pick them up, instead putting her hand on both sides of her head, in obvious pain. Kaito didn't know how to react. Was it him? Was he causing her pain? Was this her way of despairing at her loss? Yet she acted so strong in face of that not five minutes before. 

"However, before he made the final move, you fell to the ground. I thought for a moment you were upset at our lost, but then I recalled your headaches. The headaches that occur every night. Despite time being paused in the area we were in, it didn't stop the headache. And the headache was much, much worse than usual. I tried calling out to you...but you didn't answer."

_"W-who's screaming? Who keeps screaming at me? Make it stop...stop it! I-I-I can't hear anything else! STOP SCREAMING! Aaagh...Aaaaaaaaaagh..."_

"Then you screamed."

**_"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!"_ **

"...And after screaming until your voice lost all its vigor, your head fell to the ground with a thud. You didn't move after that."

She started screaming. It still echoes in Kaito's mind. After screaming she collapsed to the ground completely. Everything went silent. He could have used his last attack and ended the duel. Orbital kept insisting on it. He couldn't. He just couldn't. How in the world could he justify finishing a duel with someone who just...went through whatever it was that Yuma went through. No. He can wait.

"The Numbers Hunter canceled the duel...no, I don't think it was pity, nor mercy Yuma. I know you wouldn't like that. I believe it was his values and standards as a duelists that preventing him from completing the duel. If your opponent fell unconscious in the middle of a duel, I'm sure you would have done the same. He picked up the cards you dropped without looking at them, and put them in your bag. He then carried you to the sidewalk next to Kotori, and time resumed. You know the rest...why did he stay? I don't know. He acted confused when Akari confronted him as well. I'm not sure if he understood why either...the rest you know. Akari took you home, and she and Grandma helped you into bed. They took your temperature and blood pressure. You have a high fever."

Orbital's recording stops. "I still don't understand why you made me transform into an umbrella. Its not even one of my defaults! I had to improvise...ah, of course I'm glad to protect your head from the cold rain. Why her though? Honestly you should have just...Master Kaito?"

"Orbital, how were Haruto's vitals?"

"Currently?"

"During our duel."

"Perfectly normal. Haruto was also in good health while crying."

"...I see."

"Isn't that a good thing? Young Master Haruto already has to deal with this terrible ailment due to his fool of a father, but at least he's not falling ill anymore. So long as we find all the Numbers, we can remove that ailment correct? Then Haruto can return to his normal, happy self, and never have to mention such upsetting things ever again...Right, Master Kaito."

"...Right." Kaito stands up from his desks, walks over to his bed and crashes into it.

"You're not going to change your clothes Master Kaito-?"

"Orbital, Sleep Mode."

Orbital doesn't have a sleep mode, so instead he starts playing white noise for Kaito. Sounds of birds, rustling leaves and cicadas fill the air...Once he knows Kaito is asleep, Orbital quietly tucks him in.

"...I should remember this."

"Its the headaches Yuma. It might have to do with the Numbers...or with me."

"No, its not you and...its not the Numbers. The reason why I can't remember is because my brain...well, anyway, I've told you about the weird sounds I hear in my dreams right?"

"You mentioned you sometimes remember the sound of screams after a dream. Perhaps that's what you were hearing during the duel."

"Yeah. Its not like normal screaming, like when I get upset or I see a horror movie. It's like...like...like...I don't know how to describe it. Not human though."

"...! Could it be my world you're hearing?"

"Your world?"

"One of the memories I retrieved was that of my world being attacked. You might be seeing the same vision!"

"Oh! You might be right...but I don't have any of your other memories."

"Maybe the denizens of my world are crying for help."

"Ah...w-what can we do about it?"

"I don't know! I don't know..."

"...We'll just have to keep finding the Numbers, right? Maybe once we find them all you can go back to your world and save it."

"..."

"Astral?"

"The Numbers Hunter is also searching for the Numbers. And while he sparred us now, he will return to duel again. And when that happens, we'll lose."

"...So you want to give up?"

"...!"

"It's okay if you feel that way. I kind of feel that way too. That no matter how much I fight it, I'll still be trapped...and there are things that'll always be impossible to find. If you want to mope with me, its okay. You listen to me complain all the time, so I should return the favor. Then after we're done moping, maybe we'll find a way to pull through this. Go on, dish it out with me."

"...Yuma?"

"Yeah?"

"...This sucks."

"YEAH! It DOES suck!"

"Grandma is sleeping in a chair in your room."

"F-Why didn't you-nevermind keep complaining and I'll just nod along."

_"Oooooh that's no good. Looks like you got caught up in this too huh? Well, given how we can have these chats it doesn't surprise me. Eh, don't worry. If you kick the bucket it won't be a big deal for you anyways...I'm not saying you will! You'll be fiiiine...probably."_

_"...Look I'M not the one who did this to you! If anything you should blame...alright, alright I'll stop. Spoilsport."_

_"I'm having a tougher time talking to the brat. Not that I need to, but I like to give him words of encouragement every once in awhile you know? Tell him he's doing such a good job 'saving his world' and all that. Plus it saves me from having to only talk to his old man. He's the one who made the deal with me, so he's the easiest for me to reach. But he is so! Fucking! Dull! He talks all the time about 'sacrificing his humanity' and all that bullshit. Like, you literally made a deal with me, get over yourself!"_

_"He can feel bad about himself and what he's done to others and even his own brats, but it won't change anything. What's done is done, and he should stop complaining about it!"_

_"On the bright side, I got you to chat with now, and you're way more fun than the both of them combined. Plus, I know what you look like now, Yuuuuuma. Hahaha..."_

As promised, the doctor came by to visit. "So, I got good news and bad news."

"Yeah?"

"The good news is that I don't think you had a seizure. My guess is because of your migraines-yes I'm calling them migraines now-you've already been feeling under the weather. That near hit-and-run may have caused you to faint, and that pushed you past your limit. Right now your vitals are normal, although your fevers a little high. Now, I'm going to try to find out if I can prescribe something for you to deal with these migraines, because from what you're telling me your regular medication isn't having an effect on them at all, and its beginning to impact you more than it has a right to. If worse comes to worse, you'll just have to head back to the x-ray machine and give your brain another peek."

Yuma groans. "Is that supposed to be the good news?"

"No, the good news is that there's nothing dire to worry about with your health at this very moment, meaning after your fever's gone down in a few days you should be back to duel-er, s-sporting...you'll be back to everyday life in no time."

"...In a few days."

"That's the bad news. You're going to have to try and-"

Yuma's already groaning.

"A few days! Just a few! Two or three at most! You just have to stay in bed for a liiiitle bit longer and then you can go back to regular schedule. You can do that can't you?"

"Ughhhhh...fine."

"That's the spirit! I'll start wrangling to get you something for the migraines and send it to you. Afterwards we'll touch base in a couple of months, alright?"

"'Kay..."

"I know, I know its tough for you to be stuck in the same room for a long time, but I know you can pull through! You're strong, you know that right? This is nothing for you!" The doctor stands up. "I'm going to talk to Akari for a sec and then I'll be outta here. See you later Yuma."

"Bye..."

* * *

A little while later Yuma starts receiving "Get Well Soon" messages from her friends. Yuma used to think that she'd grow tired of these messages, but now that she has some new friends she gets to see a wider array of them. Kotori sends her sweets and calls her to make sure she gets them, and to top it all off she always takes time to see Yuma everyday, even when Yuma can't do anything for her in return. Tetsuo sends her videos of pro-dueling tournaments from the past, and also photos of him doing tricks with his skateboard. Soon as Yuma can get out of bed she wants to race Tetsuo right away! The class rep gives Yuma words of encouragement...and also a study guide. He also found a book on dueling strategies and sent it through her gazer. Its very dry, but Yuma appreciates that the class rep thought to send it to her anyway. Tokunosuke send her a guide on how to do sleight of hand tricks with duel cards. She doesn't see any use for it, but its very fun to watch. Cat sent her cat videos. Lots...and lots...of cat videos. Akari saw one of the videos with her and sneezed.

Fuya and his mom sent a physical autographed card with an audio-clip telling her Fuya hopes to see her again in person soon. "Guess what? There's going to be this huge tournament in Heartland City soon! I don't know any of the details though. I just overheard it from one of Mom's friends that they're planning for it to be ready at the start of summer break, and they said they want as many duelists as possible to participate in it, regardless of skill. I might even be able to participate in it! Let's meet again soon!"

Shark never sent anything, but that doesn't surprise her. She didn't even think to ask for his contact info, and he probably doesn't know hers either, or even that she's sick. Still, its a little disappointing that she won't know what kind of "Get Well Soon" message she'd receive from him.

"Hey Astral?"

"Yes?"

"Can you explain the duel with the Hunter in more detail?"

"Do you think we could figure out a way to defeat him by reviewing the duel? I've already run the duel through my mind a thousand times as you slept. I just can't find a way to defeat him. Its impossible."

"W-well, I was more thinking maybe it'd be more real to me if you gave me more details?"

"More real?"

"If I can't remember it, I want to at least know what monsters we used and stuff like that."

"..."

"I know I probably can't find a way to defeat the Numbers Hunter either, but I at least want to get a feel for him. You told me I was furious with him, but I can't feel anything. I don't know him anymore, now that my memories of that duel is gone. Its frustrating-" Her gazer begins vibrating. She puts it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Yuma!"

"R-Rio!"

Rio laughs. "Don't say it like I'm a monster about to come out from under your bed. At least act like you're happy to hear me."

"N-no I am, I am! What's up?"

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"My brother's visiting!"

"That's great!"

"And he said more than two words to me too! Thanks Yuma."

"Why are thanking me?"

"Um...cause you're good luck."

"D'aaaw shucks Rio. I wouldn't go that far."

"Hey Brother, say hi to Yuma." A few seconds of silence on the other line. "He says hi."

Yuma laughs. "Your brother's so shy compared to you. The complete opposite."

"He is quite the wallflower." Rio giggles. "He's glaring at me now. You're not going to hurt a wounded beauty like me are you?" Yuma could faintly hear mumbling on the other line, then Rio gasps. "Agh, that's so low of you! Meanie!"

"What did he say?"

"He said he'll bring a cat and put it on my lap! How horrible."

"Pfft, tell him to bring Merp. He's the cat that hangs out on my rooftop."

Rio gasps. "No, I will not tell him that! Unbelievable. This is what I get for wanting see how you're doing!"

"How I'm...did you know I got sick?"

"You're sick?"

"Oh."

"Is it a cold or something? Did you try swimming to the bottom of the ocean again? Or does it have to do with your friend?"

"Well, it has nothing to do with Astral, it was just bad timing..."

"What bad timing?"

"..." Yuma decided to try and explain what happened. "I'm doing fine now, but I'm probably going to have to get different pills soon."

"..."

"Rio?"

"Is Astral in the room with you?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you put your gazer on speaker?"

"Uh, sure..." Yuma holds down a button on the gazer until it makes a beep sound. "Okay."

"Astral, can you hear me?"

"I can."

"They said they can."

"I'm sorry you went through that. It must have been scary."

"Scary?"

"You almost lost your life, and that creep almost took Yuma's soul. That's a lot to take in. I don't know what I can do to help, but if you ever need another ear to help you figure this out, you and Yuma know where to find me...I don't know how it feels to be so far away from home, not knowing what's happening to it, or what it means to disappear, so maybe what me and Yuma say can't connect with you, but I want you to know this. If you're Yuma's friend, you're my friend, and I don't want to lose either of you, okay? So don't say its impossible to win, Astral. I know you two can do it!"

"...I...will keep this in mind. I don't know how we can win, but I won't say it is impossible anymore. Thank you, Rio."

"...Astral says thanks."

"Was that inspirational enough for you?"

"Very inspirational Rio."

"Teehee...oh and if that guy ever bothers you, I bet Brother will protect you! He cares about you too after all!"

"Why would your brother-" Yuma hears the sounds of stomping on the other side of the line, then the slamming of door.

"Ah, he stormed out. What a baby."

"He's probably embarrassed."

"He'll come back. I'm using his gazer to talk with you two after all-" Sound of a door slamming open and more stomping. "I better let you two go. Let me know if there's anything I can do! Talk to you later."

"Yeah, I'll visit soon! Bye." Yuma ends the call. She sighs. "Rio always knows what to say."

"...Friend."

"Hm?"

"Rio said I'm your friend."

"...! Y-yeah...?"

"...Am I your friend, Yuma?"

"..." Yuma could have simply agreed, but for some reason she felt answering them would be really embarrassing for her. "I'm going to take a nap. Goodnight."

"But its noon...alright. Goodnight, Yuma."

Their screams will save the world. That's what he told Haruto. What if he was lying? 

Dad agreed to let him stop for a little while until he gets things sorted out. Now its quiet in his room. He doesn't know what to do. He has nothing to look forward to except hearing the screams.

...

He looked forward to seeing his brother every day.

He wants his brother to come home soon.

"Brother..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know anytime Yuma is told by her doctor to slow down or stay still, she makes the face of a cat spotting a banana.
> 
> This was the make-or-break chapter for me. The way I'm writing this fic is that there are several background changes and future beats that effect the story differently than in the original. Turns out, when you change a character's backstory, their personality and how others view them are going to be different. Hence this chapter, which brings some of these changes to the forefront while also hinting at other changes having an effect. From here on out the changes I made are going to have a bigger and bigger effect on the storyline, starting with what happened to Yuma after she fell all those years ago. 
> 
> This chapter is going to be foreshadowing how I write the rest of this story from now on. Its going to get messy, so I hope you're cool with that. If not, here's the exit before the ride really starts, get off while you still can. But if you are cool with the way I'm going, just hang on tight.


End file.
